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Contents

Formula for Demonstration

Chapter 1: Your Heritage

Chapter 2: Getting to Know Yourself

Chapter 3: Building A New You

Chapter 4: According to Your Faith

Chapter 5: Pragmatic Mysticism Is A Truth Teaching

Formula for Demonstration

A demonstration is answered prayer...the manifestation of the Presence Power and Love of God.

Ask and ye shall receive,

Seek and ye shall find,

Knock and it shall be opened unto you."

- Jesus

(The formula is A S K)

~ Mildred Mann

Chapter 1: Your Heritage

Tonight, we are all going to make a fresh start ... right from the beginning. No matter how much we know about metaphysics, there is magic in beginning again; the magic of freshness, of newness, of a sudden, beautiful awareness - the "in God anything wonderful can happen" state of mind that is True consciousness.

I suspect that all of us know more or less what it is all about, but we are going to assume that we know nothing and we are going to start at the beginning.

Right now, you, your circumstances, your health, your finances, are the outpicturing of certain ideas with which you have grown up; certain basic habits that you have built into yourself. And when you approach metaphysics, the thing you do is to come away from the small end of the telescope and look through the large end.

You are going to take a good look at you. You have wonderful equipment to work with. You have yourself.

In metaphysics, that is the only equipment you need. We are, each of us, our own personal laboratory, and it is within ourselves that we make these experiments, that we test the methods we hear about, and check the results.

Metaphysics gives you a purely personal, spiritual and physical experience. It is the religion of the individual soul, not necessarily in the sense that it is taught by church authorities. Of course, every orthodox religion today has the symbolic picture of exactly what happens to the soul and its progress, but that is a symbolic version, without expectation of physical experience.

But there is a great difference between looking at a very beautiful painting that an artist has painted, and being the artist who painted it. Metaphysics is completely personal. In fact, you might say metaphysics is completely individualistic, in contrast to the many religions which teach the mass approach.

Metaphysics, when its laws are observed and understood, places in your hands the Perfect Gift that has been promised to each human being from the beginning of time.

In the Old Testament and in the New, this Divine gift is spoken of as a covenant, a pact or contract.

And what is that contract or covenant?

Just this: You were meant to have dominion over your life in every respect, in accordance with the Divine Plan, which is harmony, freedom and fulfillment.

That is the law - very simply - and that is what you learn.

If you are ill, you have a lack of faith in health. If you have financial trouble, you have a lack of faith in substance. If you have trouble with people, you have a lack of faith in love.

Metaphysics is the combination of Religion and Science that can and will completely heal the situation for you.

You might ask, isn't that putting my will above God's will?

Not according to the Bible. In both the Old and New Testaments, that is God's will; for instance in Genesis 1, 26 and 27 we read: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them; male and female he created them."

"Thou madest him (Man) to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou has put all things under his feet" (David - Psalm VIII).

"Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free" (Jesus - John 8:32).

In Metaphysics you learn to believe completely in God. I could talk about impersonal laws for hours without mentioning God - in terms of philosophy and psychology - but the only direct approach is to a living conscious Divinity that is above all and resides in all, and the thing you are going to do is to find Him. He is there, waiting for you.

So, you start with the true understanding that God, the great creative Mind, has created this universe and other universes, and has created us. You are told in the Old Testament that you are made in the image and likeness of God. Not physically, but spiritually; potentially as far as your power is concerned, you are. You too have been given the power to create.

In the Old Testament the fatherhood of God was stressed as the fatherhood of the nation. There you get the idea of an impersonal God ruling the masses by fear.

But in the New Testament, God is revealed as the Father of the individual - of you and of me. The reason for the difference of approach in the New Testament was because people had advanced a step further in understanding. They were ready for a great cosmic enfoldment - and God is shown as the personal Father of each individual - He stands revealed as the God of love.

There is a great difference between these two concepts, but the New Testament is not complete without the Old, and the Old is incomplete without the New.

We find too, that the entire Bible is written - and we will get into that in later lectures - to give us a complete living picture of what happens to us under all conditions. The Bible is the greatest book in the world.

However, we do have difficulties with the old forms of words, some of which have definitely lost their original meaning as we use them today. (There are several versions of the New Testament in modern English which you will find of tremendous help).

But the Bible is the "textbook of the soul” and gives us examples of everything that could happen to any human being. It states exactly what happens, and how people learn to get out of it.

(You will notice they all get out of their difficulties in the same way: by prayer.)

To translate the Bible's message in 20th century English, we might say that this is a mental and spiritual world we live in; a mental and spiritual universe, where "thoughts are things", as William James told us.

By Divine endowment, we are creators. We can think things into existence, and by the same token we can think them out of existence.

There isn't a thing in the world that has ever been done, there is not a thing in the world that ever will be done, that first is not a thought or an idea. If an architect builds a skyscraper, he must first have the idea of the type of building, then draw the blueprint, before it can be constructed, But he had to have the idea, .and the idea is what comes into effect.

The thing that is so marvelous for all of us, and so simple, is the fact that you can always choose your ideas.

What kind of life would you have? Tell me your life, and I'll tell you what you have been thinking. That applies to each and every one of us. You can always choose your own thought, your blueprint of the life you are building for yourself. Nobody else can choose it for you.

That very simple fact - that you have free choice of thought - is really dynamite. It is the answer to your regeneration or degeneration.

Nobody else can make your choice for you. Nobody can change your thinking for you. You can listen to me, you can listen to every metaphysical teacher in the world, read every book on the subject, but you have to do it for yourself.

I could invite you to my home for dinner, cook you a wonderful meal, serve it to you most beautifully - but I couldn't eat or digest it for you!

We come to the realization that thought is the clue to the whole secret. In the beginning, we start by deliberately changing our thoughts to change our lives in certain degrees and in certain things, and in the end, we use our thought as a purely transcendent possession; not only to change our lives, but to create for ourselves and others the good that is spiritually our divine heritage.

John tells us, "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1: 1).

What is the Word? The Word is the idea, the thought. 'In the beginning was the Idea, and the Idea was with God and the Idea was God.' The Idea, being God's was the Perfect Thought, and so manifested its perfection. If the idea had been imperfect, it would have manifested an imperfect projection; like attracts like.

Whatever you think with conviction, whatever you really believe in with conviction, that you will demonstrate or experience in your life. There is no doubt about that.

For instance, if you want to raise roses in your garden, and you plant carnation seeds, you are not going to get roses. You will get carnations. If you want carrots and plant lettuce seeds, you will not get carrots, but lettuce. And so it is on every plane of life. Like attracts like.

The key to freedom lies in your hands. Could there be a greater gift? I don't know of any. Yet how seldom we discover it, and even less seldom use it!

One way of examining your own thoughts - forerunners of the conditions you are bringing into your life - is to realize that you can think only two types of thoughts; positive, constructive thoughts, or fearful, negative thoughts. Everything else stems from that. You know, some people are constantly afraid; they are suspicious, jealous, worried, critical. These are all fear thoughts.

So, the thing you will learn to do is to get over to the positive side - the constructive side of life, and stay there. It requires training. Not anymore than it would to study a new language or to learn to play a musical instrument. But it does need training and practice.

Always remember the type of thoughts you have been thinking not only manifest in your life as the sort of thing that happens to you, but they manifest in your personality and your physical body as well. How are we going to handle it?

Shall I "get inside your mind" for a minute and show you what I mean - how to erase the negative thought and replace it with a healthy, positive one?

Let us suppose you are clearing out your desk at home and you run across some old letters. One is from a friend who has treated you shabbily without apology or explanation. Suddenly your busy little subconscious speaks up. "After all I did for him, too! Next time I meet him I'll simply ignore him. That should make him feel small. Or I might casually refer to the time he didn't have a cent to his name and I advanced him the price of a hotel room.. or …"

Right here you stop. Why will you stop? Because right here you will feel a little red flag of unhappiness or anger or hurt waving at you. That is your unfailing signal. It never fails to work, and it always says the same thing: "Danger ahead! Slow down, back up and switch engines. Now!"

Stop right where you are and force yourself to think something constructive about the friend who treated you so shabbily. Think of some quality you like or liked. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Say to yourself "Maybe there was some reason I didn't know about. Something he couldn't explain. Probably he would have done differently if he could. Anyway, I'm glad I could help when he needed it." And wish him well.

Any time you feel this little red flag - any time you are depressed, hurt, angry or worried - they all use the same flag - Stop, Look and Listen.

Whatever the situation the red flag is waving about, stop, examine it and look for some good in it. Say to yourself. "Something good can come from this. Maybe I can't see it now. But I am going to expect it and count on it." Say the words in your mind or aloud.

You'll be amazed at how beautifully and effortlessly problems can solve themselves if you treat them this way.

Now there is only one way we learn to do anything - and that is by experience. It is all very well to listen to lectures and read books - no one approves of that more than I do, but - and it's a big but - the only way to learn to swim is to jump into the water - and the only way to learn to use Truth is to try it.

Let me tell you right now, while it is extremely simple, it is far from easy. But since the reward is more wonderful than your most beautiful dreams, the thing to do is to get started.

Make an experiment for yourself. Take one day, set it aside, and dedicate it to "OPERATION RIGHT THINKING"

Select a day on which you will make the experiment. The night before, when you are comfortably stretched out on your bed, the lights out, just as you are beginning to have the feeling you are dropping off to sleep, give an order to the subconscious that "tomorrow is the day you will do nothing but think and speak positive ideas."

This is what is known as the battle cry to the subconscious. Because rest assured, it will do everything to thwart you.

However, you stick to your guns, and when you awaken in the morning you are determined to be nothing but positive and constructive all through the day.

So you start.

If you are like most of us, you will find that a million and one little things go wrong. The hot water runs cold, the bathroom glass slips out of your hand and crashes - you drop this and that, but you are still being positive. You heed each red flag signal as it appears, and you try to live with the idea that "none of these things move me."

You find that everything tries to!

Let us say you have been able to maintain a positive constructive attitude for the period of an hour. And it seems to you that there never has been a more trying morning. You feel very pleased, and of course, in the feeling of being pleased you relax your guard a little.

Just then the telephone rings - and out of a clear blue sky you hear something uncomplimentary has been said about you by someone whose opinion you value. Before you know what happens you feel a sudden surge of anger, you ignore the frantically waving red flag, and you explode, either externally or internally.

You suddenly realize with some dismay that you have lost the battle. What actually reminds you that you have been thrown, is the subconscious gleefully making you aware of it. But the subconscious does not know it is really doing you a favor by taunting you, because thanks to the reminder, you recollect yourself, and start again.

After a fall, take a few minutes to get quiet. Then go back to it. Continue this through the day and you will find that you will have returned to a point of positive and constructive thinking no less than one or two hundred times in a twelve-hour period!

However, the most important thing is that you will have begun to make entrance into the subconscious by your own conscious choosing. If you repeat the pattern next day, you will find it is a little bit easier. The first day is difficult and leaves you with a bit of a "charley horse". But as you repeat the exercises each day the mental muscles begin to develop until they take over the job they are supposed to do.

This is your first step in beginning to train the subconscious mind. All your life it has been your boss. Now it is your turn to give the orders and to see to it that the subconscious obeys. It is only by constant repetition that the subconscious accepts the idea permanently. It is too long accustomed to thwarting the conscious mind's 'good resolutions'. As Aldous Huxley once said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is awfully strong!"

Actually, positive or negative thinking is only a matter of habit. And what is a habit? Well, it is something we have slipped into. Somehow or other we have gotten into a routine. Once we did it consciously or it could not have become a habit.

For instance, a habit familiar to all of us: every morning we awaken, move the body out of bed, and automatically go into the bathroom, scrub our teeth automatically, get into the tub automatically. When we first did it, it required our complete attention. Now we can do it without thinking.

When you get a true understanding of this, you tap the root source that psychology has rediscovered and popularized, and that metaphysics has always known: the subconscious mind.

Your mind is divided into three compartments - you have a conscious mind - the one you are now using; the subconscious, which is the powerhouse (and it is whatever you put into that subconscious that you get back) and then you have the Superconscious.

The Superconscious is psychology's name for the Presence of God Who lives within you. The greater part of humanity is not aware of this. Their only aspect of awareness is their knowledge and belief that they are alive. They do not realize that their "aliveness" is from the presence of the Superconscious mind.

As we begin to clear out the debris of the subconscious, we not only remove problems, but a slow growing awareness of the Presence begins to make itself felt. The real quest of fulfillment in life is a conscious contact with the Superconscious, which Jesus so magnificently demonstrated when he said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

At this point however, we are concerned with the clearing out of the debris in the subconscious, and the way to do this is to become consciously aware of your type of thought. You become consciously aware that this is a mental universe. Ask yourself, 'Is this a positive (constructive) thought, or a negative (fearful) thought?'

Remember the old occult saying "As above, so below; as within, so without" - and in the same way your universe reflects you. Man in himself is a microcosmic being, and any law of Truth that applies to the Cosmos, applies to you.

We who have tried it, know that when we direct our thought consciously, we have the life we want. Certainly, there is not one of us who is free of problems. But whatever the problem, it is a test. How long you will have it depends on you. You will have it until you change your thought about it.

Let us say, for the sake of illustration, that you have a definite problem, and you are going to use what you have read today in trying to solve it. The problem, whatever it may be, is pressing.

The first thing you do is to get very still for a few minutes. Then realize that at some time or other you thought the problem into existence. Don't try to figure out when. Just dismiss the how or why, and reason that since you thought it into existence, you certainly can think it out of existence.

Now, when you are really quiet, you turn to the Presence of God within you. God is waiting for you to come to Him. Accept the Presence of God, even though at this point it is merely an intellectual idea. Reflect on such thoughts as 'God is perfect good, perfect freedom, perfect Truth, Life, Love and Law.' Realize that God is handling this through you and with you. Give thanks for the demonstration.

Dwell on these thoughts for a few minutes, and then forget about it. Forget about the treatment and forget about the problem. And then, after that you will find as we all do, that your mind comes back to the problem. When this happens, and every time it happens, say to yourself: "It is in the hands of God, not in mine."

Your mind is like a radio. You can tune into a problem or to a positive thought, depending on which thought you think. You can refuse to dwell on the negative aspect and change to the statement above, that you are leaving it in God's hands.

Keep your thought off the problem. It couldn't be simpler. It is pure magic, but not as we understand the term magic. It is simply the God-given power of thought, plus the belief, the faith, that we put into it.

You may be thinking "I don't believe this will work."

Well , there is just one way to find out. Try it. You need only two things to try it with: the first is an open mind; the second is integrity of purpose - a sincere desire to try.

All of us have been guilty of closed minds at some time or other. I can remember not so many years ago when I was in school, and they brought in a radio. How thrilled we all were to think that the program was being sent from three miles away. But if anyone had told us that within a few years we would receive both sound and pictures through television, we would have laughed him to scorn. Not to mention outer space projects of the kind now under way, including present day plans to reach the moon!

Let us always remember that our growth and change are conditioned by keeping an open mind. Just because we have not experienced or known certain things, does not prevent them from being. Metaphysics brings us into far greater experience than we ever dreamed existed, but they are dependent upon an open mind and an honest effort. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves" (Julius Caesar).

So, you must keep an open mind. This leads to all kinds of possibilities because literally you can have whatever you believe you can have. This Truth teaching will take you anywhere you want to go, if you have the imagination and pliability to go with it, but if your vision is narrow, you won't go far. If you keep an open mind, it will work.

A word here to those of you who may think 'It works for others - but not for me.' Or, 'I can't believe - hard as I try.'

Remember, the gift is from God, and the ability to use His gift is also God-given. He would not give you a gift and withhold the ability to use it. Hang on to that thought if you have doubts in yourself and your capacity to follow through.

I'll tell you something else very wonderful. Beginners, when they first start, find miracles performed because of their childlike trust and enthusiasm.

I remember many such miracles when I first entered metaphysics. I was a very practical young business woman, but I had an open mind; if it worked for me, it had to work for everyone else - but it had to be tried first.

The important thing is your thoughts - your attitude toward yourself and other people. Keep them positive. Keep them kind. In the beginning you will find that they slip. They always do. But you can and must slip them right back. And for the coming week you are to:

REMEMBER

There is magic in new beginnings. The magic of freshness, of newness, of a sudden beautiful awareness that with God anything wonderful can happen. And this is literally true.

You are a threefold being - physical, mental and spiritual. You have been endowed by God with the gift of creating and directing your life. "Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free". It is the will of God that you shall be free.

Sincere prayer and meditation of the heart and mind, carried out in daily action will heal any situation or problem that ever has been or ever will be.

Holding your thoughts on the positive (constructive) side is the true use of God's law; a literal demonstration of your awareness that you are a Son of God in the making.

In this way you can "think" any problem out of existence. It is your God-given ability, promised in both the Old and the New Testaments.

Finally, whatever the problem, you are going to turn it over to God. Keep your mind off of it and on His complete willingness and ability to solve it with you. It is out of your hands - and in His. You do your part and God will always do His.

Lastly, there is a lovely little thing written by Irene Beasley apropos of this. I would like to leave it with you. Here it is:

THOUGHTS

When I see stars

Flung so magnificently into space

Each crystal one in its appointed place,

My heart leaps high

My troubles lose their spell.

These sentinels of night

Do not at random trace their span!

Each is a part of universal plan.

When I see stars

I know that all is well,

For if some power

Can hold a billion stars in place,

And at the same time, make the marble

That molds a statue's face,

Or knows the secrets in the bricks

That makes this building tall,

That same power can also hold me, too

And guide my every step - and all I do.

Now we will relax and have a treatment (prayer).

There is but one presence and one power; the presence who lives within me, and the power, which is controlled by divine law and governs all creation. I am the child of God. As my realization of this grows, I begin to claim my divine inheritance. I do this by bringing my thoughts and emotions under my control, thus aligning the conditions of my life to conform with the pattern in the mount for me. I give thanks for the love and wisdom of God which guide and sustain me along the path.

Never forget you belong to God, who knows you, loves you and cares for you. Your welfare is dear to the heart of Being. ~ Mildred Mann

Chapter 2: Getting to Know Yourself

Last week we started out as though we were all very new in this, on the premise that we knew nothing of Metaphysics. We saw that we live in a mental world, a world that is controlled by our thinking. And if we want to control our lives, we must learn to control our thinking.

We have to learn to keep our minds open, and to give positive thinking an honest trial.

Today we are going on to the next step: What is it that makes us tick?

Here we will turn to the greatest textbook ever written - the Bible. From time to time, we will use texts from the Bible - texts that apply to the particular lectures, and that will be a guide for us to explain the thing we are trying to understand, and to accomplish.

Today our text is from Proverbs, Chapter 4, Verse 23: "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."

Now in the Bible, the heart is another name for the soul, and the soul, in turn, is a synonym for the conscious and subconscious mind, but particularly the subconscious.

Your subconscious is the impetus behind everything you say or do. It is the thing that makes you what you are, where you are, and why you are. If you think of it as your individual storehouse and powerhouse, that is as good a way of expressing it as any other.

We said last week that "thoughts are things," and you saw that you can think things into existence, and by the same token, you can think them out of existence.

But don't misunderstand me. Don't be deceived into believing that you can do it by simply saying, "I am well, and that's that."

I only wish it were quite that simple. It is not. You must change the thought pattern which has produced the unwanted condition in your life. And that thought pattern is found in your subconscious mind.

Lots of people have tried to describe the subconscious mind - but since it is mind, and invisible, this is on the difficult side! We just cannot see it, you know.

But in a sense, it is a cause, and the person is its effect. So, if you want to get an idea of the state of anyone's subconscious, take a look at the person. To repeat a well-known quotation, "What you are thunders so loud I cannot hear what you say!"

That was from Ralph Waldo Emerson, and it is very true. You cannot see the subconscious.

You cannot find it, nor actually locate it. It is intangible from the point of the physical plane, but it is very, very much in evidence! You can certainly feel it and its effect on you.

Instinctively, when we speak of the subconscious, we almost always indicate our solar plexus. When we are struck by a sudden shock or fright, we are quite likely to grip our tummies. Many people think the subconscious is located there. It is not, but it so happens that the region of the solar plexus is the connection to the subconscious mind, if we can put anything quite as intangible as that in words.

That area of your body is known as the gateway to the subconscious mind. It is where the first physical reaction is felt when the subconscious registers fear, but never joy. When a joyous thing occurs, there is no particular locality of feeling. You feel completely uplifted. You feel lighthearted.

Where do your ideas come from? Where do the thoughts that come into your mind arise? Where is the point of departure? Nobody has ever been able to find out photographically, but we know that they come up from the well of the subconscious, and often the ideas it generates are very wonderful.

Have you ever wondered where intuition comes from?

We speak of it quite a bit. We believe in intuition which is commonly called "a hunch". We tell you that if you develop your intuition sufficiently it will guide you and do everything for you. But your intuition is not your subconscious mind. Your intuition is the voice of God speaking to you. The word itself means "inner teaching". But it works through the subconscious always. That is why in most people it seems more of a hunch rather than inner guidance.

Your subconscious itself is a complete storehouse of everything that has happened to you; everything you have thought, everything you have done and everything you have said. You are not aware of it, but the effects are always manifest in you. Some of them are latent, and some work their way through to the physical organism.

For instance, when you are able to make contact with the subconscious, or as I term it, build a two-way street, which we all have to do, you will find that the most perfect filing system in the world is there. We know it as memory. It has a perfect, exact record of your every thought and action, and at some time or other will reproduce them for you.

Whatever is imprinted on the subconscious mind, it will grasp, hold and project.

There are many ways in which you reflect your subconscious. You reflect that which you instinctively believe. If you believe in ill health - though you do not want to - if you have a fear of drafts, if you have a fear of getting out in the sun, if you have a fear of certain foods - you may not want that fear, but you have it and it is the only thing the subconscious knows.

Your fear will be reproduced in you because you have said or thought with conviction, "this is what I believe", and whatever you believe with conviction or feeling your subconscious will produce.

This is the same cosmic law we spoke of last week, "Like attracts like" - and never forget the subconscious has absolutely no reasoning power. It will accept any premise you give it and build on it, no matter how sound or absurd the foundation.

You might compare your own subconscious to a very young child about four or five years old, very spoiled, needing very much to be taken in hand.

This is true of all of us, and we have to deal with it as we would a small child. It is the only way you can make contact with it. You cannot force it, or ram anything down its throat. You have to take it in hand and train it anew.

What is the nature of this 'small-child subconscious' of yours? Well, you can never approach it directly, as you would a physical object.

For instance, if I want to leave this platform and walk to the back of the room, I have but to step down, and walk straight back to it. But if I want to get in touch with the subconscious, it is not quite so simple. I have to go by a somewhat devious route.

No one can approach his subconscious directly unless he has been so unfortunate as to place himself under hypnosis or in a trance. This is an extremely dangerous practice, which places your consciousness in the hands of another person and gives him power over you, a power you must sooner or later learn to use yourself. I cannot urge you too strongly to keep away from trance, psychic phenomena and hypnotism. They are all very much to your detriment.

However, to get back to approaching the subconscious, we do it very gently, very firmly and by reiteration. That is why every metaphysical teacher gives affirmations in the beginning. These are the beginner's "guide ropes" by which we train our minds.

By constantly repeating and progressively absorbing more and more of the Truth in the affirmation, the subconscious begins to understand what you are talking about. It is the only way you can make an impression.

But you must add to the affirmation the one ingredient which always penetrates the subconscious mind, and that is emotion or feeling.

Have you ever noticed the inconsistency between the statements of a person, a perfectly sincere metaphysical student, perhaps, who is facing an operation? He will talk about the operation and give you all the gory details with much avidity - what the doctor thought, etc. Then when it comes to healing, he says, practically in a monotone: "I know God is life and I am the expression of that life," but with absolutely no feeling because his thought is wrapped in his feeling of fear, which gives power to his demonstrating his negative feeling. His "enthusiasm" for his symptoms, and his apathy in "stating the Truth" show very clearly where his belief lies. It is obvious that his feeling is centered on the doctor's diagnosis. The flat tone in which he states his affirmation of Truth, indicates his belief and faith are stronger in the doctor than they are in the power of God to heal him.

Always remember the formula for demonstration is: Interest and attention, fired with enthusiasm.

Clearly the interest and attention and enthusiasm in the above example are fixed on the negative side, and consequently the demonstration will follow the negative pattern. Always remember that we are continually demonstrating, and that not all demonstrations are positive.

And now I want to let you in on a secret that can be of priceless value to you if you will accept and use it in time: Any time anything strikes out of the blue - a physical or mental shock of any nature, remember: The first thirty seconds are golden.

Why?

Because it takes that time for the shock of mental or physical pain to register, and if you have been trained to stop and instantly affirm the Truth, nothing can touch you. The sensation cannot take root. It is pure magic in its working, and I have never known it to fail. So, tuck it on top of your mind for instant use, and never forget it is there. THE FIRST THIRTY SECONDS ARE GOLDEN!

As soon as you hear anything you do not like, instantly say "God is taking care of this." Affirm it in whatever way you want, but affirm. Say "I know the Truth about this. Truth is perfect harmony. I have nothing to fear." Don't take my word for it. Try it on the next fright.

"Keep thy heart with all diligence," (keep the subconscious mind with all diligence) "for out of it are the issues of life."

What are the issues?

Health is a most important one. A good disposition is equally as important. Environment is quite important. Personal relations are supremely important. Finance is important.

How are you measuring up as you read this?

What kind of health do you have? What kind of environment? What kind of disposition? How are your personal relationships?

How do you wake in the morning? In a good mood, or are you ready to kill the world? Do you need two or three cups of coffee to put you in a good humor?

You know you can gauge your disposition by the way you wake in the morning. We are supposed to have come through a period of rest and sleep, and in that particular space of time our emotional nature, our subconscious mind, is nourished by the elements, and we are supposed to wake up bright and chipper. How about you?

What kind of environment do you have? Do you like it? Is it pleasing to you? It is very indicative.

And how about the people department? Do other people like you? Do you like them? Do you have many friends? Do you think people really want you for yourself, or because they can get something out of you?

What kind of friends do you have, and what kind of people do you attract? How do you get along with your family?

How are you in finance? Do you get along well, or do you have difficulty? Do you find that money is a god? Do you find that you are afraid of money, or do you think money is something to be used? These are indicative questions and will reveal to you the state of your subconscious mind.

Your mind itself has three sections: your conscious, your subconscious and your Superconscious. But we are now dealing only with the conscious and the subconscious. The first, your mentality, completely dominates your conscious mind. You can think calmly of a number of things without any emotional impact whatever.

But the second, the subconscious, does not think very much. It feels. So we say that the subconscious is the feeling body, and the conscious the mental body. You have therefore two divisions: a minimum of emotion in the conscious, and a minimum of thought in the subconscious.

The subconscious does not reason. It definitely has no sense of humor. But it has a complete memory, as well as a record of anything you ever believed with conviction, carefully stored away. These memories it reproduces over and over until we begin to devise a way of controlling it and changing what we do not want there.

Now there are two types of subconscious minds. One is utterly pessimistic and the other is optimistic. The tone of the subconscious is responsible for your personality.

All of us have had the experience of meeting a person who for no apparent reason, we do not like. Or we have been immediately drawn to someone without knowing the reason why.

This is because of the radiation from the subconscious mind. A pessimistic subconscious will repel people. You sense an atmosphere of coldness, and you are repelled. Or, if it is an optimistic one, you get a radiation of warmth and you are drawn to the person.

There is a definite polarity which draws you or repels you, and it is from the subconscious mind. There are many people who want to be liked, to be pleasant, and who do not understand why they are not liked, why they do not have more friends, and get along better. It is because of their subconscious disposition.

Remember, when the subconscious gets an idea clearly and concisely, it will do everything in the world to reproduce it. The power of the subconscious mind is the same power which controls and keeps the universe in order it will do the same thing for us when it is properly directed. But remember, it must always be properly directed. Also remember it is equally powerful in either direction - good or ill.

Nothing will happen to change your life until you consciously step in and start to work with the subconscious mind. Otherwise, you will go on with the pattern you have built up. It will continue to manifest, and you will live out your life at the mercy of the subconscious.

The whole purpose of metaphysics is to bring you to an awareness of and contact with the Indwelling Christ. It is not so much the overcoming of problems, important as this is to you, but rather that the problems you overcome indicate that you are making progress. That is the main reason for demonstration, as we call it.

The path of the soul is revealed in the symbolism of the Bible, and I do urge you to get thoroughly acquainted with the Bible, if you are not already. It is not only necessary to understand the symbolism of the Bible, but it is one of the most beautiful and rewarding phases of metaphysical study.

The key to the Bible is through some knowledge of its symbolism. Every woman symbolizes the subconscious, and her name indicates the particular quality or aspect of it. The word heart also stands for the subconscious.

But the whole story of the Bible, at least the underlying story, is the story of the soul, beginning with Eve and ending with Mary. In Eve, the ignorant soul loses sight of her Indwelling Divinity. You read her story all the way through until she becomes Mary, the regenerated soul, where she has all the knowledge and has come to the point where the soul is ready for union with God.

This is the meaning of soul. Wherever you see the word heart, use soul instead, and wherever you see a woman's name you are speaking of the soul and or the heart.

I am a firm believer in meditation. I personally think it is the only practice that enables us to grow. It is also the only way in which we consciously contact the Presence within us. That is why I always recommend to everyone a ten to fifteen minute period for daily meditation.

What should you use for meditation? You can use anything you like that gives you uplift. Some people prefer the Psalms, some prefer certain texts of the Bible.

It is up to you to choose the subject matter. You start with this and you keep to it, and then at the end, always at the end, because by that time you should have had a rise in consciousness, claim for yourself the particular healing you need.

Never stress the negative aspect. For instance, if you want to get rid of an illness, do not say, "I want to get rid of this illness." Say, "I realize that I am a child of God. God is in me and His wholeness is manifest in me now. I give thanks for a perfect healing." Then forget about it.

After your meditation, the next step is to try and live your day in accordance with it. Watch your thoughts, your words and your actions. Stay kind, stay positive, stay cheerful. It will take a little time and a little training, but so does everything in life that is worthwhile.

As you begin to watch yourself, you suddenly find you are very conscious of your thoughts, and know instantly when you are going negative. Every time you are negative you tear up some of the positive thoughts you planted through your meditation. That is inevitable.

Remember always that you are dealing with a little child, and the only way to teach a child is by reiteration, kindliness, and most important of all patience.

Another thing, you never start looking for immediate results. You may have them. Many people do, but sometimes it is not immediate. If you think to yourself "I wonder if anything is really happening," your subconscious immediately senses the doubt, and says "She (or he) doesn't believe it." Then you will surely have difficulty getting results. Do not doubt that the thing will come true.

The more you progress in metaphysics, the more you will realize how subtle doubts are. But for the present you are only to realize when you have a positive thought and when you have a negative one. That is your assignment for the coming week.

Physically, you are a reflection of your subconscious mind, and when you change this inner picture, the outer picture changes. But sometimes a rather funny thing happens: We discover that there is a difference between a healing and a cure. A healing is a permanent wiping out of the pattern that caused the difficulty. A cure is temporary. The cure shows some progress, but that not enough work has been done. If there were no progress, no cure could appear. Never get discouraged. If you have made progress, keep on and you will come out on top.

Another imperative factor is the necessity of relaxation. We hear a lot about it. We hear from every school of thought, from medicine to metaphysics, and there is nothing more important in one sense: Your first step in relaxation is to say to your body "Be still ." It takes a bit of doing, but it is the same story as that fright we spoke of a while back. If you are trained to say, "be still", you begin to exercise a controlling guiding hand over the subconscious mind.

My favorite exercise, the one I recommend to people, is to lie on the floor, prone on your back for five minutes, without moving anything but the eyes and eyelids. Lie where you can watch the clock. The first few days it is very difficult. But do it for one week. The second week lengthen it to ten minutes. By the end of the second week, you will have control over your body.

Several months ago, I had an interesting experience. You are all familiar with spastic paralysis. A boy came to me with the worst case of spastic paralysis I have ever seen. He could not sit still and his speech was terribly affected. I gave him this exercise and asked him to do it. He said he would try.

In two weeks, you never saw such an amazing change in a human being. He was not yet completely healed, by any means, but when he talked he was still. He could make himself be still. It was amazing what he had accomplished on that floor.

Then I tried something else. His hands were all knotted. I asked him if he would walk with his hands in his pockets and keep his thumbs out. After three weeks he did it. If you have any idea of how difficult it is for a spastic to make his body obey him, you will have an idea of what was achieved.

Try to get control of your physical organism. If you do not, you will not get very far with meditation, because the physical body will do a number of things to upset you, which in turn disrupts your concentrative ability.

Only after you have learned control can you become emotionally, mentally and physically still. Then when you come to a meditation, you can say to yourself "Be still " and find yourself emotionally, mentally and physically attuned - ready and receptive for your visit with God.

In this way you will find that you can rest on a deep inner strength within yourself. We all have more than we ever dream of using, and we can only reach it through the subconscious mind.

AND PLEASE REMEMBER....

1. Nothing will happen to change your life until you consciously step in and start to work with the subconscious mind. Otherwise, you will continue in the same pattern you have built up.

2. If you want to change your life, you must change the thought pattern which has produced the unwanted condition. That pattern is in your subconscious mind.

3. You can change the pattern in your subconscious by patient, constant reiteration of an affirmation of Truth, provided you pack it with conviction and enthusiasm.

4. Your subconscious will accept and reproduce anything you think with feeling and conviction, good or bad, sound or absurd.

5. The whole purpose of metaphysics is to bring you to an awareness of and contact with the Indwelling Christ. This is done through meditation - from ten to fifteen minutes daily.

6. You can gain control of your physical, mental and emotional life if you follow through with honesty, patience and tenacity, the steps outlined here.

And now we will relax and have a treatment.

God is life and life is unceasing fulfillment. As I understand more and more of how I am created by God, I likewise grow in understanding of being “created in his image and likeness.” I realize that within me is the same creative process as is within God. I realize it is my job to control and utilize the power given me by God to recreate my life, according to His plan for me. As I do this, I demonstrate the good which is His gift to me. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.

“Accentuate the positive!” If you find it rough going, be firm, but patient and kind to yourself. But, above all, be persistent. ~ Mildred Mann

Chapter 3: Building A New You

Last week we talked about the subconscious - or I should say we skimmed through the subconscious, and today we are going on to the next step.

From here on we are going to build more and more solidly as we go along, but I want you to get a very clear understanding of the basic structure of your mind.

Last week you saw that your subconscious is your powerhouse; that it is primarily a non-reasoning force. You will remember I compared it to a mirror where anything that is reflected into it with sufficient emotion will immediately transpose itself into activity in the outer picture.

We will be examining your subconscious mind as we go along, from many different facets, because that is the drive, the modus operandi - the why and wherefore of everything that you do, think and are. It is literally, your instinctive self.

Your subconscious reacts completely by instinct; for instance, one reason why dogs and cats are so sensitive is that their instincts are stronger and more developed than those of other animals. They have little reasoning power, but very strong instincts.

Your subconscious absolutely will accept without any question anything you impress upon it with feeling.

For instance, I can give you a very good example, from my own experience: I was walking along the street and heard someone shout. I automatically jumped without knowing why, and missed a hurtling scaffold by a few feet. Needless to say, instinctively as I walk along and spot a workman's scaffold, I go to the other side of the street. That is purely instinctive. The incident made a great impression.

You see, any time you have a severe fright, the idea hits you with a terrific feeling impact, and will remain with you until you do something about it. No matter how ridiculous the thing may be, the subconscious will reproduce it until the conscious mind, the mentality, takes it in hand.

Let me tell you how I handled a ridiculous fear reaction, as an illustration: From the time I was a very small girl I had a horror of walking on ice because I often slipped and fell. If I had to go only a few blocks, I would always ride if I possibly could. But a year or two ago, I decided that this was silly for a metaphysician. I made up my mind I would go out and see what happened. I lived on 58th street at the time, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, and I had a luncheon date at the Wellington - about four blocks distant.

When I started to walk, the ice hills seemed enormous. The Alps never looked so high as the crossing at 57th Street. My first impulse was to go home. Then I reminded myself that it was God who walked through me, and with fear and trembling I sallied forth. I never prayed so hard in my life. If you could have seen me, you would have thought I was walking on eggs. But I did get to the hotel, and I didn't fall.

From then on, I walked on ice and snow, though the first few times I never stopped reminding myself that God was walking through me, and He couldn't slip.

How do we go about eradicating these fears?

There is only one sane way, one safe way. And as usual, we go to a Bible text; Paul says, "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." II Corinthians, 8:12.

So, the first thing, according to Paul, is a willing mind. If you make the effort, no matter what has been before, if you consciously and constantly make the effort, you will project that which you put into your subconscious. It does not matter what was there before. That is the great thing about metaphysics.

Other religions used to teach a fire and brimstone existence - you lived in sin, were born in sin, and died in sin. In metaphysics it does not matter what you have been. (First of all, you are not a sinner - in reality you are a child of God.) If you really turn around, turn the other cheek, and live according to the law, the way of salvation is open to you.

Salvation literally means healing. It is really the ability to be in dominion of your own life, to be made whole, free. That is what we were meant to be, and that is what we are going to be, and the sooner we start the faster we will get there!

So, let's get on with it right now, and take a look at the marvelous machinery you have to work with. Your conscious, or thinking mind is absolutely devoid of feeling. Your subconscious, as you will remember, only feels. Your subconscious cannot reason, and your conscious cannot feel. You can remember having been in pain, but you cannot remember the actual pain, no matter how hard you try, because there is no feeling in thought.

Your conscious mind, your mentality, is composed of everything you have learned in this life through environment, through education and through reasoning processes. It has nothing whatever to do with your instinctive nature.

You may ask, does it remember everything? No, but what it wants to recall it draws up from your subconscious. For instance, if I were to ask you what school you went to when you were twelve years old, your subconscious would immediately tell you. You can pull out of the subconscious storehouse the things that pertain to memory, but which have nothing to do with your own consciousness at this moment.

Here is an example of consciousness which may help to make it clear. Visualize a stockbroker's ticker tape. It is a narrow strip of paper and as it comes out, there are marked on it the various stocks and their prices.

Your consciousness is that strip. The only thing you are aware of at any given moment is what is before you. The only thing you know consciously is the thought you are entertaining at this moment, and it can have no effect on you unless you have backed it with feeling, or unless you have repeated it consciously, poll parrot method, as in the Coue routine. (We saw it happen with Hitler - whose rank distortions of truth were finally accepted, due to sheer day in and day out repetition)

If you repeat any idea often enough, it begins to make an impression, until by reiteration you pack it into your subconscious.

Now let's examine another facet - a very important one - of your makeup. We hear a lot about personality. What is personality? Personality is the sum total of your subconscious expression clothed in your consciousness.

What kind of personality do you have? Did you ever notice that when you meet people the first time, even before they have said "How do you do," you have a distinct impression, sometimes very strong? You either like them or you dislike them. It is not from anything they have said, but the reaction you get is a completely subconscious one.

Why do some people have many friends? Is it their great mentality? Great mentality does not draw friends. It may draw admiration, but not friends. Wealth does not draw friends. How many times have you passed a person and said, "I would like to know that person"? Why? Without the person having said more than a greeting, something very interesting radiates. Or by the same token, you may have been repelled. Either can happen. That is personality and personality will always manifest itself not only in your own physical appearance, which it does, and in your environment, but most clearly through your mentality and feelings. What do you really express? What do you like to think about? You can get an idea of your personality there. What is your interest in life?

Do you like to spend hours at nightclubs? Not that there is anything essentially wrong in that, but it can do harm to the physical body eventually, if it is a nightly occurrence.

Or are you the type of a person who enjoys good music or literature, etc? What do you do with your spare time? What kind of people, places or activities really appeal to you?

Always remember, your personality can never be seen "naked" - always others see it completely clothed in the mentality (the thoughts you think and express) it wears.

Your mental mold - your general trend of thinking - is the dress for your personality. The kind of mind you have, the way you wear your clothes, the type of clothes you pick, the type of words you use, the type of ideas you express, and the kind of expression you wear on your face, (particularly in repose!) are all outpictured by your mentality and feelings.

Why is it that some women prefer big hats and others prefer small ones? Why do some men like light clothes while others go in for dark shades? They are all expressing themselves. Mentality is the color of the personality; feeling or emotion is the essence.

One thing we can say for the conscious mind is this: it has a tremendous reasoning power.

That is its greatest gift and that is its greatest danger, because through the reasoning power it can invent more excuses for itself than anything else you can possibly imagine.

Psychologically, we call that rationalization. Where does rationalization come from? From the conscious mind. It can always think up a good reason as to why this happened to it, and why it should not do that. The subconscious never reasons. It accepts what is impressed on it, takes it for granted, and brings it to pass. But not the conscious. The conscious mind will invent excuses, and by the same token the conscious will take the germ of an idea, build it up, carry it forward, and do great things. Ideas come from the subconscious, but it is the consciousness that carries them through.

However, nothing affects the subconscious unless it is packed with vital interest for us. I can say, "We are meeting here at the Skyroom," an obvious remark that would neither interest nor excite you.

On the other hand, if I were to suddenly say "Good Heavens, I've just heard they're shutting down the elevator service here on Monday nights!" The feeling that is attached to the subconscious would immediately reproduce in my own mind and in yours. I would talk about it and you would listen with intense interest. And there would be much feeling as well as thought on the flights of stairs we would have to climb!

The whole point you have to remember is that your consciousness wears the dress of your personality. It is something you can add to or detract from, making it more or less attractive - according to your make-up.

What is this thing in your personality that animates your mind and selects what it wants?

There are certain philosophers or psychologists who say, "Consciousness picks up what it wants." But that is wrong. Consciousness does not select what it wants.

When it is given an impetus, your conscious mind is the building, dissecting, adding, comparing and changing agent, but it is not the selector in the sense that you have a liking for this or a dislike for that. That is your subconscious and it reflects through your personality.

Why do some people like chocolate ice cream and some people like vanilla? Is there anything wrong with their mentalities? No, it is a preference of taste. Has it anything to do with the consciousness? No. You can carry that pattern all through life in everything you do.

Why is one person very attractive to another and the same person may be very repellent to a third? There is nothing wrong with the person to begin with. What fails to come through or comes through to the one and not to the other? It is personality. Everyone radiates it. Each and every one of us expresses it.

Psychology and psychiatry have a lot to say about improving the personality, but probably the greatest difficulty with all of the psychological and psychiatric fields today is the fact that many of their exponents judge patients by "book" standards. This is a very real stumbling block because only when we achieve a broader viewpoint do we recognize that each individual is a unique being - that the other fellow has likes and dislikes of his own - and there is really no such thing as a norm.

When you come under the care of a psychologist or teacher who only has his own norm to go by, he will try to bend you to that pattern because he thinks it is right. We must all realize that we each are an individual creation and have an expression unlike anyone else's.

For these reasons, metaphysics is such a safe beautiful thing. We do not try to change people. We try only to get them in touch with themselves. When that happens, they find their own inner release, and the change occurs.

There is another way of changing personality which has become much more popular with the psychological field. That is the use of the charm schools: "We have a wonderful way to change your personality!" they will tell you. If you are a woman, they tell you to come in and they will give you a new hairdo, new makeup and teach you how to walk and dress. But out you go, and you are one and the same unchanged person.

You can never do anything from the outside. You may get a lift - I think every woman gets a lift out of buying a new hat - but that is not going to change you.

A man may go out and get a new hairdo (yes, they sometimes do!) but it does not change the personality. Yet, just look at all the ads - a woman on the radio not only changes your figure but wants you to come to her with your problems. Another famous school teaches you how to make friends and influence people. It uses psychological stunts; mental gymnastics.

The trouble is that none of these things ever work. You are going to stick to your own type of personality. There is just one way to change it, and that is to change the subconscious mind. That is what produced it. Then not only is your personality changed, but your thoughts change. That is why we call this the New Thought religion. You get a completely new picture - inside and out, by thinking New Thoughts.

Until the subconscious pattern is changed, nothing will happen to change you permanently. For instance, if you have a pain, do you feel like being charming? I don't. When my subconscious reproduces something very uncomfortable, I don't feel in the least like being charming. And I have never known anyone who did.

Another thing these charm and personality schools forget is that you can't change any pattern unless you want to do so, consciously and subconsciously. If you are instinctively sincere you will radiate it. No psychologist, psychiatrist or charm school or anything else can make you sincere or insincere. You either are, or you aren't. and you are the only person who can change it if you are insincere. People who are insincere radiate insincerity - and the more they try to hide it, the more it sticks out, like a sore thumb.

"What you are thunders so loud I cannot hear what you say", wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson - and this is completely true. You have all known people who are obviously trying to outdo others for the good they think they can get for themselves; or who like to pat others on the back although they don't give a rap about them. Such people may succeed in pulling the wool over the other fellow's eyes for a few weeks or months, but in the end the truth comes out, and they suffer by it.

So, you must understand that your personality, if it is going to make any sort of impression must first have the quality of real sincerity. You do things for people because you want to, not because you feel you should, or you want something in return. You should like people; you should want to be fair. You must really want to do the things for others that you want them to do for you.

This is the 'abc' of a truly charming personality, and unless you have sincerity behind that personality, I don't care who says he can change you, he cannot. All he can do is to put on a new outer covering, and that can become awfully thin after a few wearings.

If you are like the average person, you do want to change yourself for the better - we all do. But most of us don't know what to do about it. Most of us know tragically little about ourselves. We measure ourselves by the outer picture - we are like a man groping in the dark. We think that if we change our living quarters or our jobs, it will change us. It won't. We have to change the pattern of our subconscious, our habits.

Someone has said personality is a "totality of individual habits" - and it is the difference in habits that makes us different individuals. One person likes sweets, another does not. One person likes to smoke, another doesn't touch a cigarette. The same with coffee and tea. Some people must have their four o'clock tea. Are they hungry? No, it’s habit. They may be hungry for their breakfast, but whether they drink coffee or tea is purely a matter of habit. It is the sum total of all these little things that makes you into a personality.

These things are very much on the surface. We have other habits, fear habits, that influences the personality terrifically. We are afraid of this and afraid of that, and all these things cramp our personalities.

How are you to go about making the changes you want?

First of all, you must reach through to your "powerhouse" - and that you can do only through your conscious mind. You must start training it. It is very simple in one sense, yet very difficult in another, because of this habit business.

You will start by watching your thoughts very carefully. You watch your words. Even more carefully watch your actions. You must take a mental pencil and cross out every negative thought, word or action - and replace it with a positive one. In the beginning you'll find yourself crossing out most of what you think, say and do, but as you stick to it, you'll be nee ding the mental pencil less and less as you go along.

In the beginning, it is a tedious and difficult thing to do. That is because you are so much a creature of habit. Up until now you have probably thought nothing of being negative, fearful, apprehensive. But each time you do, your subconscious says, "this fearful thing is what he wants to happen - he's expecting it!" And it does happen.

Any time you have any sort of negative thought, word or action packed with feeling, into the subconscious it goes, and before you know it, it has reproduced - and you wonder why. You have forgotten the time you put it there.

So, you must learn to pack your subconscious with exactly what you want to happen.

We grow to be like that which we think about. Literally! Remember, whatever you think about often, you will resemble. For instance, did you ever notice how people who are infatuated over various types of dogs begin to look like them - whether it be a greyhound or a French poodle?

You can read a person by his face, for the most part. It does not take any great psychological knowledge to place a person by the way he looks. His thoughts show, and he can't get away from it.

If you want to make a complete change for the better, start thinking about beautiful things in life. Way down in your subconscious there is a perfect pattern. We all have it. Someday, somewhere, it will manifest. This is eternal beauty. I don't mean that we will all be beauty prize winners, but you will radiate beauty - you will not be able to help it.

We will all radiate peace because that is our natural, our true state of being; we cannot prevent it. We will radiate all the good things of life - we need only learn to let them manifest, to stop hindering or negating them.

In the beginning this learning to let the good manifest will take a bit of doing. No more than it would to learn a new language, or to learn to skate. When you started that you had to be careful, you had to practice, but if you stuck to it, before long, you found yourself performing easily and naturally, without thinking about it.

This is how you can transform your own personality - your entire life - if and only if you stick to it. Keep positive not only during your meditation periods, but all through the day. Meditation will not do much good if you keep canceling it out in thought, word and action during the balance of the day. It is like putting something on a blackboard then erasing it. One hinders the other - and the most you will do is to stand still, which is hardly an interesting prospect.

So, from now on you are to become objective about yourself. Stand to one side, and watch yourself. Watch your "performance", watch what you say, what you think and what you do and how you act in all these things. You will be amazed after a few days, if you really do it, how aware you have become.

You will recognize old habit patterns. You will spot negative thoughts. You will be training your conscious mind to be the monitor and like any school youngster who is appointed monitor, you will have your hands full keeping your pupils in line at first. Within a few days they fall in line automatically, and life becomes progressively simpler, happier and more profitable for you "the monitor", as well as for the entire class!

This is the true function of your conscious mind, and this is how you are to put it to use from now on. And please:

REMEMBER

Your subconscious is the why and wherefore of everything you do, think or are.

Your subconscious will accept without question anything you impress on it with feeling.

You can change yourself, your life and your circumstances if you consciously and constantly make the effort. All you need is a sincere and willing mind.

Constant reiteration of positive thoughts will bring about the desired change in the subconscious.

You are now training your conscious mind to monitor your thinking. You have taken step number one in building a new life for yourself.

And now we will relax and have a treatment.

Be still and know That I am God. As I reflect on the Presence who lives within me, the one who is altogether lovely, I, in turn, begin to reflect in myself the radiance of the indwelling Christ. Through the control of my thoughts, emotions and actions, and in my daily meditations, I express more and more the purpose of God who is my creator. “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”

Remember - what you think upon, grows. Think about the Indwelling Christ and you will come to resemble Him. ~ Mildred Mann

Chapter 4: According to Your Faith

In our last talk you discovered the true function of your conscious mind - which is to act as a monitor of your thoughts, words and actions; that it is the analyzing, dissecting part of the mind. Through it you can choose to think whatever you want, and needless to say, can refuse to think what you don't want. But these thoughts alone will not demonstrate. Thought must be imbued with feeling before it manifests.

And by now you know that the subconscious is that which you carry around with you, that it is cause - and you, your life and your body are the effect. You see the results, or you measure the results by yourself. Actually, we ARE our own lives and create the things that happen to us. Our health, our relations with other people and our finances - these are the three big factors of life, and they are the results we see. These are the measurements.

You have seen how you can change this pattern by working through the conscious mind on the subconscious.

Remember always that you cannot approach the subconscious directly. We have to coach it a bit as we do children, coax it a bit, but never upbraid it. It does not do any good to get angry with the subconscious. It is a complete waste of time. The angrier you get, the tougher the condition will be.

The indirect, effortless approach is the basis of all metaphysics; in fact, it is the basis of any type of therapy that will change your life. The more you force, the less you will achieve. In metaphysics we have a most beautiful and expressive term for it - we call it EFFORTLESS EFFORT. Let go, the more you let go, the more effort you can pack into it.

We correct the mentality. We can begin to imprint a new picture. We can begin to change our thinking habits, and through that, our feeling habits. We begin to build a new pattern, and that pattern grows. As we saw last week, what you think on grows.

Today we have arrived at a stage where we have a fairly clear idea of the way the mind functions, both consciously and subconsciously, and now we come to what is probably the most important, the most dynamic element in any form of metaphysical or psychological therapeutic work. This great cornerstone is something you have often heard of. It is Faith. You have heard the word time and time again. Remember the quotation "Faith without works is dead" (James 11:26) Rather I would reverse it and say, 'Work without Faith is dead.' Without faith nothing will work.

Today I have taken for our text one I think is the most beautiful of all given to us by Paul. You'll find it in Hebrews, Chapter 11, Verses 1 and 2: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report."

Faith, then, is the cornerstone of anything we want to do, whether we approach it from the metaphysical aspect or through the use of some materialistic outlet.

You cannot possibly do anything unless you have faith. I do not care what your religion may be, what manner of belief you may have, you have to believe in something. There is not a human being alive who has not a belief. They may tell you "I do not believe in God." They may not, as we know God, but they still believe.

Such people believe in Materialism. They believe in a physical awareness. They believe in a bank account, and so on, all the way down the scale. They believe at least in the outer picture..."To eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow we die" (G.J. White-Melville, "The Object of a Life").

In metaphysics, we believe in God. We believe that with God all things are possible. We have certain definite beliefs. Faith is confidence in an idea, and there is not anyone who does not have confidence in some idea.

Faith is one of the major ingredients of life, and frankly I think with one exception the most important ingredient. The most important is Love. But next to it comes Faith. We know that there is not a soul in the world who does not have some sort of faith - positive or negative - but they have it. The thing that is interesting to watch is the way they cling to it. They hang on to it even when it is faith in a negative idea, wrecking their lives.

Show me your faith and I will show you what you believe in, what you instinctively do, your little idiosyncrasies. We so often hear people say "I can't drink coffee at night. It will keep me awake." Actually, coffee will never keep you awake, but your faith in the idea will!

When you have faith in a thing, you will reproduce the thing itself. Very often if you sit down to analyze what you are placing your faith in, you will find out how perfectly ridiculous it is, how perfectly absurd, from every point of view.

Faith is your lifeline. That is about the clearest way I can define it. When you go to a bathing beach, if you are not too good a swimmer you hang on to the life ropes and they hold you up. In the same way, we hang on to faith. That is the positive faith that will bear you through everything that happens to you.

Oddly enough, faith is not what we call a dynamic impetus. Certainly, it is not static, but when we speak of things having action, faith has no action itself. It is like life. You do not live for a time. You always are and faith always is. Someone once said that faith is the glue that holds the universe together. It is a very interesting idea that without faith it would fall apart. Anything devoid of faith does fall apart.

I may have faith in something, and for a moment it seems to evaporate. But the interesting thing is that when you withdraw it from one thing it will pop up in another. Did you ever notice that? Faith will move from one thing to another. Those who had a lot of faith in the New Deal of yesterday, today have their faith in something else. Those who believed for instance, that when President Roosevelt died the country would fall to pieces have switched their faith to another man. Faith is a belief. A confidence in feeling. Almost a knowing. A knowing beyond reason, at times.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for," said Paul. Substance is something tangible. Something we can take hold of. But it is not something like a desk. What is it? It is a feeling, an inner knowing. A real surety of something we are to see come to pass.

That feeling of faith is our evidence of things not seen. Evidence, as we all know, is a pretty corroborative word. It is definite tangible proof, and as Paul says, faith is the substance of this. Faith will bring it to pass. The thing we want to have happen, dream of, if we have enough faith, will come true.

The text ends "for by it the elders have had a good report." Who are the elders? Those are the people, the teachers, the scholars, who have known these truths, who have brought them to pass. And who discovered that the only way to bring any change into your life is to be able to have a faith in something, a faith with which you hang on like grim death. That is faith, and that is the faith that moves mountains.

You know it is perfectly true that we are all of different natures. Some have very deep, intense natures; others shallow natures. And the shallow person will waver. But again, according to the amount of wavering you do, so will be your demonstration. (You know the simile we so often use - we can use it on faith).

How much faith can you have? How much water is there in the ocean? You cannot exhaust the ocean - but you can only take away as much water as your receptacle will hold.

Faith grows, you know. And there are ways you can hasten its growth. There isn't a person who cannot afford to have a big increase in faith, because if we all had the faith that Jesus taught, we could move mountains. Most of us have not even moved mole hills. But we can learn.

Let us see how we can go about increasing this faith we so much need: As metaphysicians, we know that faith is a directed belief. There is such a thing you know, as blind, unquestioning faith. But in metaphysics, we know that man was meant to have dominion - was made in the image and likeness of God.

So, using our God-given prerogative, we learn to direct our belief to that which we want. Remember, what you think upon, grows. Whatever your faith is in, that will grow. The job you have to do is to discover the direction in which you want to go, and direct your faith to it.

You might compare this procedure to putting blinders on a horse; you are to keep your faith and eyes in one direction, and let the rest go by. Another way of saying this is to keep positive. Do not indulge in negative thinking, but build on faith.

Remember, faith cannot live unless you are vitally interested. For example, let us say that a person hears rumors that there is going to be a replacement in his job that he happens to love. His first reaction is that of panic because he needs the money, to say nothing of the fact that he feels he has something to contribute. He has the impression for the moment that the ground has fallen away from beneath his feet. He then reminds himself that God is with him, God knows him and loves him and cares for him, and God is the real source of his life. In the beginning the words are hollow but as he persists in clinging to these ideas his faith begins to give them power and he finds his fears being allayed and a sense of calmness will then take place. Needless to say, his interest in his job is vital, but it is his faith and his knowledge of God and his interest in his own welfare, that will bring the demonstration if he clings to it. This is directed faith. This is faith in action.

Alive, positive faith works miracles. Again, it is like the lifeline, and no matter how much of a storm you may be in, I don't care how severe it is, if you hang on in faith, in the knowledge that the Laws you are using are the Truth, you will come through with what we call a demonstration. And what is a demonstration? We use the term in metaphysics very frequently, and its meaning is fairly obvious. You demonstrate a law, a cosmic law. You make a demonstration by changing something in yourself through your faith.

I am going to tell you a story that actually happened to me when I was very young in metaphysics. I did not have much faith. Oh, I had a few demonstrations, rather spectacular they seemed to me, but I wasn't sure whether or not they had been coincidence.

Well , suddenly I found myself in a jam - up to my neck and over my ears. At that time, I had a rather large business, and a lease on a very beautiful space on 42nd Street overlooking Bryant Park. Much against my intuition, my partner had insisted on signing a five-year lease, one of those charming things called a graduated lease in which you pay a higher rent each year. After several years at this address, came the war and many of our sources were caught in it. We had a great deal of money outstanding, with chances of collecting very slim. We were in what you would call a very real hole. I went to see the agent for the building and told him I would have to make arrangements to cut my space. His reply was a flat refusal. We had to meet the terms of the lease or be dispossessed.

I was served with a dispossess on Saturday afternoon after twelve, and given five days to vacate. Two days were gone, Saturday and Sunday. That left me Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with two million pictures to find space for.

I was really scared. I could not see any sense in doing anything except use what metaphysics I knew. I got quiet on Saturday afternoon and gave a treatment: I knew nothing but harmony prevailed in the kingdom of God. I knew God was Truth, and the Truth of this situation was going to manifest, and all I had to do was to keep my mind on that truth. That weekend I never worked so hard in my life to keep my mind off the negative picture. I felt like a trapeze artist swinging by the teeth.

Come Monday morning I had an idea. I went to see the agent again and told him I would personally guarantee the rent, not my company, but me. He flatly refused. I told him I would pay him $150 monthly for the space, an offer that was more than fair. Again, he said absolutely not.

When I returned to my office, I had a sudden impulse to go over the head of the agent and I called the manager at the main office of the building owner, who expressed astonishment at what had happened. "Go back to that agent and make him another proposition," he said.

Still hanging on desperately to my lifeline, I sent my partner back to the building agent. Again, he was refused.

Monday and Tuesday had passed and Wednesday afternoon the telephone rang. It was the attorney for the building. He asked me to come up to his office. When I got there he said, "I am canceling the other three years of your lease, and you may have the space for $80 a month." (Remember I had offered $150 a month!) "You can stay here at least for another year!"

This is what we call a demonstration. It was one of the first I had ever made. It will never leave me. I remember the utter tenacity with which I hung on to my faith. It was the only thing that could work. And it did.

Sometimes you will find when you are in the midst of a problem, your teeth will chatter and every bit of you will quake, but hang on. The going will be roughest just before you find yourself in a very calm body of water, and the demonstration appears.

A demonstration is always greater, more fantastic, than anything you could have dreamed of. If you had told me that we would be released from our lease and given excellent space at a rental which even then was ridiculously low, I would never have believed it. How it happened I don't know. But that is pure faith, and you have to hang on with it.

However, the true purpose of demonstration, even more important than meeting the immediate need, is the fact that it makes a change in the subconscious. Whenever you have made a demonstration, you have cleared up something negative in the subconscious. That is why you are trained to go out and demonstrate - little ones or big ones - because with God there are no little or big problems. We are the only ones that ever make a difference between a big problem and a little problem. With God they are all the same.

You see when you make a demonstration, what you really do is to metaphorically take a scrubbing brush and clean up a portion of the subconscious, and rid yourself of the thing that caused the problem to arise. That is the true value of demonstration. Not only does it relieve you from outer pressure, which does happen, but it enables you to have a little clearer perception within yourself. It begins to free you, and each time you do it, you get added power. You begin to get what we call metaphysical development. You begin to find that you have more power of your own to handle your problems, and then of course you begin to have more faith.

After the first two or three or even four to six demonstrations, we usually sit back and say, "Oh, - it's probably coincidence." But when it goes on happening, and it does, you begin to realize that it is out of the realm of coincidence. From my own firsthand experience, I could talk to you for hours about demonstrations that are utterly fantastic - completely beyond the laws of chance or coincidence.

I have seen and experienced demonstrations that are utterly inconceivable in every realm of life, religion, health, money, illumination, anything you can think of.

Yet in the beginning, it is very hard for us to accept them as such. We like to use our much-vaunted intellects, our common sense - to deny anything we cannot intellectually explain or reason about.

Eventually you will begin to get the knack, and begin to recognize that it is almost like turning on and off a light. It becomes like that, you know. You will come to fully realize that it is no longer chance.

What are the ingredients we need to make a demonstration?

First: you must be able to clearly and concisely state in positive terms that which you want in your life. See clearly. See concisely. No ifs, ands or buts. But just as clear and sharp as you can make it.

Second: you need imagination to realize it will come true. Never imagine details, but in your imagination, you hold to the finished product. Never outline how it is to be done. Let God do that. If you have a need, it will be met - but on God's terms.

Third: you must have enthusiasm for it. Not the attitude "I'm going to do this even if it kills me. That will get some results, but not the kind you would get if you have an enthusiastic feeling - the feeling that "this is going to be something out of this world." You must have enthusiasm -fire.

Fourth: you must hold an attitude of expectation. It is not one of those things where we speak the word and two minutes later go back to see what is happening. A farmer puts his seed in the ground and expects it to grow. He does not dig to see what is happening. Very often we do that in trying to make a demonstration. Just plant it and expect it to manifest. That is a form of resurrection. Every demonstration is. First it is buried by the conscious in the subconscious, watered by expectation, and then it appears whole. "I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase" (1st Corinthians, 3:6).

The last ingredient is faith - faith in the fact that you are working with God's law, and that you have but to use the principles of that law and nothing can stop it, not a thing in this world or out of it, but yourself.

Remember the first great cosmic law: like attracts like. It's a law that never fails.

A very good way to prepare the subconscious, and the mentality for demonstration is to get in the habit when you awaken in the morning of giving thanks for the new day. It is very simple and very beautiful.

Give thanks for the fact that you have come through the night safely and well, and thank God for the perfect beauty, love and joy that will be yours each day. Train yourself to do that as soon as you awaken.

This takes a bit of doing, but do it the moment you awaken, before the etheric settles back into the physical, and the subconscious becomes clouded with the conscious. Say "Thank you, God."

This is a beautiful way to greet the new day. You will find, too, that your faith begins to grow in leaps and bounds, for the first waking thought is an all-powerful one.

Here you have the story of demonstration. Use it in its practical application. Go out and try it in your own life. You will find it works as long as you stick to the ingredients, no matter what the problem is.

Once more, here are the ingredients for a true demonstration, ingredients that cannot fail if faithfully used. Please memorize them.

REMEMBER

Make a clear concise statement of that which you want to demonstrate.

You must have the imagination to hold the finished product in mind.

Have enthusiasm for it and interest in it. Vitality for it. It is life.

You must have an expectant attitude. Know that it will work.

Have faith to recognize once you have spoken the word it shall not return to you void. It does not.

And now we will relax and have a treatment

I believe in God. My life is centered in Him in whom I live and move and have my being, and who lives and moves and has His being in me. The ground on which I stand is holy ground, for God is with me. Since I know this is true, I have no fear, for underneath are the everlasting arms. The problems which confront me, have no reality in truth, for with God all is well now. My belief is centered on faith in God's law, which never fails. Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.

Chapter 5: Pragmatic Mysticism Is A Truth Teaching

"Practice of the Presence of God in the Everyday World"

Pragmatic Mysticism is a Truth teaching, based on the Eternal Laws of God. Under the spiritual leadership of Mildred Mann, it has a tremendously high record of success with people who are now students.

It is the Practice of the Presence of God in the everyday world, with conscious effort and direction of thought. It does not matter whether you are a beginner or an advanced student.

What does matter is your own sincere desire to find God, and thus improve your life. What does Membership Involve? You join the Society of Pragmatic Mysticism for the same reason that you join any dedicated organization or church. In this way you experience a spiritual bond - a fellowship is created which is a very powerful force for good. Each of us needs a sense of belonging, and the knowledge ' that there are kindred and supporting spirits who consciously live in the same Presence. This generates a powerful force for good - not only for the individual himself, but for the world.

The physical symbol of this spiritual bond and dedication is the member's support of the Society through attendance at lectures where it is physically possible, spreading the teaching to others, and financial aid in proportion to his or her ability to give.

The Society of Pragmatic Mysticism Suite 1610, 101 West 57th Street, New York 19, N. Y.

Drop the problem, turn to God, and ask and claim your good. Stay turned in that direction, and you will have the secret of effective prayer.

YOU are Divine Spirit.

YOU are a child of God.

YOU have been given complete dominion over your life.

With God all things are possible.

You are never alone, for God is always with you.

Be positive in thought and word and deed.

Live up to the highest you know in all things.

See the Presence of God in your fellow man, particularly when you do not like him.

Give something of yourself in everything you do and to everyone you meet, particularly when you do not feel like it.

Meditate daily.

"In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" (Isaiah 30:15).

I hope you enjoyed reading Pragmatic Mysticism by Mildred Mann.

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Table of Contents

Formula for Demonstration

Chapter 1: Your Heritage

Chapter 2: Getting to Know Yourself

Chapter 3: Building A New You

Chapter 4: According to Your Faith

Chapter 5: Pragmatic Mysticism Is A Truth Teaching