Whatever is operating is operating in your consciousness and mine. We in this room have agreed, even though we may not have done it consciously—we may never have made the statement to ourselves—but, actually, we have agreed that, in this room, we put up the sword. We check our revolvers at the door as we come in. Even our mental weapons we check and we come in in a spirit of grace, in a spirit of love, in a spirit of cooperation, in a spirit of receiving something from the word of God, the consciousness of God, the spirit of God that is here. And that is what makes this relationship. We, individually, have accepted this relationship in consciousness.

Now, our function is not merely to set up a group of people on earth to prove that they can live harmoniously together. Our function is to prove that the development of spiritual consciousness is a freedom to the entire world, and by virtue of the degree of our attained consciousness, that we help to bring about “nonattachment” to the rest of this world.

So it is, that each of us goes out of here into a home or into a business, into an art, a science, a profession, but we must carry with us this consciousness of the presence of God, this consciousness of one power, so that whatever environment we may find ourselves in, we are consciously declaring within ourselves, “There is but one power functioning here, and it is the power of love, the power of Spirit.”

Not the power of my human love for anybody—this isn’t great enough to remove a headache—but the power of the spirit of love, which is of God, operating here in my consciousness, is a law of freedom unto your consciousness. And wherever you go, you go with that recognition of keeping your mind stayed on God, so that God may be the cement in the relationship wherever you are.

Now as you review through your reading, as you review the consciousness of those individuals who have become spiritually imbued, remember this is exactly the measure of your consciousness in life. You have within you the same spirit, the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, as long as you are keeping your mind stayed on God, as long as you are acknowledging God in all your ways, and therefore, wherever you go you are a benediction. You are a blessing to any individual, to any group, to any meeting, and by the power of silence, not the power of speech.

You know one of the saddest experiences that we meet is in associating with those who have some metaphysical and spiritual background—one of the saddest experiences is to hear them mouth these great words of truth, these great passages of scripture, and you know to me, this is a very irritating thing, in fact sad. And the more, the longer the student has studied, and the further advanced they seem to be, the more horrible it is when I hear them voicing these sacred passages of truth and of scripture instead of holding them locked up tightly within themselves until they are called upon to share them with someone who wants them; not voice them for the purpose of showing how much they know, not voice them to those who cannot possibly have an interest in them, or understand them, but who can keep them locked up in the way the Master taught. Pray in secret, and then, what the Father seeth in secret will be shouted from the housetop.

If you know any truth, keep it locked up within yourself. Make it secret prayer, sacred prayer, unless the opportunity comes when someone asks for spiritual wisdom, then share what you have, and be loving enough to share it simply—giving milk to the babes and meat to the advanced. But remember that you do not show forth the degree of your understanding by how much truth you voice, but how much silence you can experience. It is only in silence that the works of the Spirit are accomplished.

That is why a silent treatment is much more powerful than an oral treatment. An oral treatment is apt to hit up against the consciousness of an individual and bring out rebellion. In other words, you say to a person in pain, “Oh, disease has no power,” and you can almost feel them bristle as they say, “No? I wish you were suffering this.” And so, your statement has not only not blessed anyone, but it has antagonized, and it has been a barrier to their healing. Whereas, had you voiced anything at all outwardly along the line of, “I’d love to help you, I’ll pray,” and then, in your silence realized, “God alone is power,” you would have aroused no mental reaction from your patient, but there would have been some measure of receptivity to it.

You will find that in healing work, or in your human associations, in your office, in your school, in your business, that if you never voice your spiritual convictions, but keep them locked up, and spiritually realize them silently; you will be a tremendous influence wherever you are. Whereas by voicing it, you not only arouse antagonism, but you arouse some suspicions as to your sanity, and rightfully so, because almost every spiritual truth is an insanity to the human mind.

Scripture recognized that when it said: The things of God are foolishness unto man. And just think how many of our metaphysical and spiritual students go around mouthing these wonderful spiritual truths into the human ear, to whom they are foolishness, to whom they are insanity. Yes, yes. I have even found in my mail a student saying to a doctor, “Oh, you know I know this disease isn’t real.” A doctor is a very fine man to tell that to, I’m sure—spending his entire life trying to prove the reality of it.

But think, think only what a power we could be if we could learn the value of silence—an outer silence, but not an inner one. The inner one knowing the truth, inwardly keeping the mind stayed on God, inwardly bringing to conscious remembrance all of these tremendous passages given us by such great masters as Christ Jesus. Think, if we were to live—and some of the Hebrew masters—think to abide with them and let these be within us. It would be like the title of our new book. There would be a thundering of silence. The silence would thunder throughout human consciousness, and, as I so well know, only silence is power. Even when words are spoken in teaching, if they are to have power, the only reason they have power is because of the silence that went before, and the silence in which they are received.

In other words, I learned this right from the beginning: that if we come to a meeting having a goodly period of meditation, inner silence, and if I go to the meeting after a period of inner silence, we both come with power, to give and to receive. But it’s only because of that period of silence, which is like a vacuum into which we are inviting the spirit of God to enter, and the word of God to express itself. Only in quietness and in confidence do we find this peace. Only in quietness and in confidence does a treatment function.

A treatment does not function through a mind that is in fear of the condition that’s being treated, or the person who is being treated. A treatment can only function in silence, in stillness, in inner peace. And that is why only those should be engaged in the work who have found some measure of inner stillness and inner peace, because the words themselves are not power. It is the consciousness through which the words come that is the power, and that consciousness is a consciousness of stillness, of silence, of inner peace, and of an inner grace.

And so it is that we are going, first of all, to take another passage with which to work for this week, and then we’re going to have, after the machine stops, we’re going to have another period of meditation in which to contemplate whatever passage is now given to us.

(Pause for meditation)