If you know the name and nature of God you’ll know the name and nature of man, and of the universe. If you know the name and nature of error, you will know the nothingness of appearances. And then, this that the Master called ‘this world,’ which you now understand to be not a world, but a false sense of the world, that begins to lessen in your experience, and we have the hope that someday it may entirely evaporate, and we will be completely at home in the Father’s consciousness.

Be watchful that even as you are aware of the human situation that you do not allow it to influence the nature of your prayers. For instance, we are approaching an election season. Each of you has, at the moment, some conviction or other, that makes you more partial to one of the major political parties than another, and even within that party, makes you more partial to one candidate than another candidate, and this is inevitable. But as you enter prayer, be sure that you do not pray for the success of either party or candidate, and thereby, set yourself up as a judge. You have opinions, the same as I have, but at least I know that my opinion may turn out to be incorrect, because it, too, is based on the conditioning of all of my life in the business world as well as this world, so, I could make mistakes of human judgment. I will never pray that this party or that party be elected, and yet, when it comes to voting, I will vote for the one that, at that moment, appears to me to be nearest right. But my prayers will be that there are no powers in heaven or on earth greater than I Am, and the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven, even if it has to nullify my particular vote, and be assured that I will be very willing for it to be nullified if my human judgment is not in accord with the divine will, which really means the good of all.

Yes, the study and practice of this message must be having an effect in the business world, because it is more and more being introduced into it. Undoubtedly it has an effect in the political world, but let the effect not be your will or mine. Let us not substitute the will of those in authority for your will or my will. That will be no improvement. Let us rather introduce God’s will, and this we do in one way. There is no power in heaven or on earth greater than I Am, and then let Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence have Its way in human consciousness.

Eventually, we will bring this into one of the most difficult aspects of human life and that is our family life. We do not realize it, but many of our physical and mental discords come really through our family life. The little differences, naggings inside, repressions, sometimes break forth. And the reason is that our will isn’t being done in that family life to the extent that we believe it should, and because the family life is the one closest to us, it is the one most irritating. This can be overcome too, and will eventually, when we come to that same realization: There is no power in heaven or on earth greater than I Am, and I do not need my personal will to be done. I am satisfied to let this will of Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence have Its way. Oh, that’s a difficult place to come to, because there our conditioning insists that we have our way. In fact, there is an ancient superstition about marriage that sort of helps it along. It says that the two become one, and then we assume that I am that one. Oh, if only the two could become one and let the I that I Am be that one, what a difference there would be in marriage.

You want to know how far off the millennium is, well measure it by that measuring stick: How soon can we bring this to bear in our family life. When we do, we will have accomplished it in our political life, our national, and international life. We will have set aside our personal will.

Don’t all congratulate Emma that she has a perfect life because I’m so perfect in that, because she will tell you that I haven’t attained it fully. But, this is the secret of life: Be still and know that I am God, and then make Joel be still, and then you will see how this divine impulse comes through. It does in a measure—that is why we have healing work. It does in a measure. Joel can be still, and you can be still, in a measure, and let the I which is omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and needs no help from Joel, or Mary or Bill; let It come through, and watch harmony established on earth as it is in heaven.

This is mystical prayer. Be still and know that I am God, and then be still. In the presence of this spiritual realization, the material sense of existence has no power, or rather loses its power, its seeming power, its claim to power. Just as you have witnessed in healings that with spiritual realization, even physical symptoms have disappeared, physical germs have disappeared, physical growths have disappeared, physical fevers have disappeared. In other words, physical sense dissolves in the presence of this realization of I am God. (pause)

There is a Spirit in man. Be still, and let It flow. You see, the Spirit in man isn’t a he or she. It really isn’t even it, because it is I. The Spirit in man is I. I am the Spirit in man. It is neither he, she, nor it. In our writings we have referred to it mostly as It, but this was only to break down that false sense of God as he, and later that God is he and she. But, actually God isn’t It, because that would leave I and It, and until you’ve overcome that it, as well as the he and she, you have not attained God awareness. God is not it. God is I. God is only It in the sense that God isn’t male or female. God isn’t he or she. God isn’t father or mother. But once you reach that place of realization then you must discard God as it, and be still, and know that I am God. Then, you are abiding in the Word and letting the Word abide in you, and no evil can come nigh thy dwelling place.

Do you see how the message of The Infinite Way continually breaks down concepts of God, man, and the universe, even concepts of prayer, until eventually you have to sing out, “You have taken my Lord away.” You’ve taken all my favorite beliefs away, all my ancient concepts and superstitions away, all my family traditions of religion away. You’ve stripped me, and this is its object and its goal and its purpose, until you can truthfully say: Be still, be still Joel, be still religion, be still minister, priest, rabbi, be still everybody and everything, and know that I am God, and beside Me there is no other.

Thank you. Thank you.