This goes on right down through the centuries until, oh, two or three thousand years B.C., the great wisdom schools and mystery schools of India were at their height and revealed tremendous secrets of life. But, something happened then that happens often on this particular path, and that is that some of the seekers get stuck at the mental level and do not go through into the spiritual. And when this happens, a very sad thing follows. You see, when you go through into the spiritual realm, you, yourself, have no power. You, yourself, are nothing, but this enlightened consciousness becomes the all in all of your experience.
Paul was to state it in this way, “I live yet not I. Christ liveth my life.” Others have said it in other ways. Meaning, that now I can of my own self do nothing, but the Father within me, He lives my life, He does these things. Only a few years ago, Saroyan said, “I do not live my life. God lives it and I go along for the ride.” And that is virtually what happens when an individual breaks through the physical and mental realms and touches the spiritual.
Those, however, who get stuck at the mental level come to make a strange discovery. And that is that you can use the power of the mind for either good or evil. The power of the mind is human. It is not divine because in the divine there are no powers, and no one can use any powers, not even for good. But in the mental realm, you can use power, and you can use it for good, and you can use it for evil.
And out of that came the original religions of the primitive people, the primitive races; for instance, the aborigines of Australia. Their religion reached the level of the mind, and in working with the mind, they found that it can perform miracles. Eventually they learned that you can heal. You can really heal sickness with the mind. But then they also discovered that you can kill a man with your mind. So that they developed both angles of mind-science: the good priests, who did the healing work, and the bad priests who did the killing for you. If you had an enemy that you wanted out of the way, you went to this bad priest and he fixed him, and fast.
In the Polynesian races, the same thing developed. Their religion reached the mental stage and they, too, discovered the powers of the mind. And so they developed a Kahuna system. Now, the good Kahuna is a healer. He’s one of the greatest blessings that you can have around you. He’s a rare, wonderful individual. But they also have the bad Kahuna, and he is the one, also, that is ready to put a curse on your enemy, or on the girl who won’t marry you, or the man who isn’t doing right by you. This bad Kahuna knows how to manipulate the mind and destroy an individual. As you go through South and Central America, you find that they also knew the secrets of the mind. And so religion, which ostensibly was reaching to God, actually was reaching no higher than the mind.
Now, we have to skip quite a few centuries in here, until we come to the Master, Christ Jesus. And here we find that he had not only discovered one of these brotherhoods, he was a member of it, and studied with it for years, and he went through to the spiritual realm. He touched Christ-consciousness. He attained Christ-consciousness. He attained that mind which we speak of as being also in Christ Jesus. He attained the fourth-dimensional consciousness.
And now watch what happened in his experience. Here is a man crippled and the man asked for help, and the Master doesn’t say that he’ll pray to God for him, he merely says, “What did hinder you? Pick up your bed and walk.” And he did. What happened? Well, on the human level, there are really material laws, and mental laws. There are these laws of infection, and contagion, and paralysis. There are these laws of age. There are these laws of climate, and of weather. These are a lot of material laws.
There are also mental laws – laws that have to do with lust, hate, greed, envy, jealousy, malice, mad ambition. These are mental laws. And the Master reveals that when you are under the law—as ye sow, so shall ye reap. When you are under the law, you have that coming back to you which you have sent forth. But, his mission on earth was to reveal another kingdom where material laws and mental laws do not operate.
So then, we have the crippled man, we have a blind man, to whom he says, “Open your eyes.” That’s not much of a treatment, not much of a prayer, not much of a going to God. Just “Open your eyes.” And the blind man saw. In other words, while that blind man was functioning only around other human beings, the law of matter operated, and his blindness remained. The moment, however, he went into the atmosphere of one who had attained the spiritual consciousness, the material law had to disappear. So whether it is a material law, or whether it is a mental law, since both of these come under the heading of good and evil, both must dissolve and disappear when they come into the atmosphere of an individual who has attained that spiritual consciousness.
Now, the Master tells us that his purpose on earth was to bring us to that consciousness. And you will remember that he said, “Ye have heard it said of old, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, resist not evil.” Well, now you see, if you were on that Hebraic state of consciousness, level of consciousness, if you were on that material state of consciousness, you would be functioning in the realm of an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, just as mankind does today. Steal a loaf of bread, and go to jail. Steal a diamond, and go for a shorter period. Steal a million dollars, and go for less. But always, it is an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But, when you come over into My kingdom, says the Master, which is not of this world, no longer is it an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth—but resist not evil.
Or, instead of hating your enemy, punishing your enemy, seeking revenge—love your enemies, pray for those that despitefully use you. All of which, remember, is foolishness to the human being on the human level of life. And no one can quite see how forgiving our enemies, praying for our enemies, is going to result in harmony, wholeness, completeness and perfection coming into our experience. Or, you cannot expect the human being to believe you when you say germs are not infectious or contagious. Germs are not destructive. Why? Well, haven’t we got millions of people in hospitals and cemeteries all because of these infectious and contagious germs, these destructive germs? But, when you come into the Christ-presence, what happens? The germs disappear. They lose their power. And you find then that it is literally true that there is no power, really, but God. In other words, the attainment of this fourth- dimensional consciousness wipes out that which is considered law on the lower level.
Now then, the Master was crucified for taking that message to the people. Up to his time, truth was never given to the people. Well, of course, for one thing, they didn’t have the education to understand it. Another thing, they worked from sun up to sundown, and when they did get in the house, they probably had other things on their mind than trying to attain spiritual consciousness. And so, there was no teaching of the people. All of this wisdom was confined inside of the monasteries and the brotherhoods.
But the Master violated the rules of his day and decided that this truth could be given to the people, and that they would understand it. And, of course, he had a measure of success. He did prove that there were some able to receive this message. There were some able to respond to it, and to demonstrate it. Of course, he practiced for a very short time. And, but nevertheless, he left enough proof behind that his own disciples, and their students, and their students were able to perform miracle works for three hundred years.
Now, this teaching is lost sight of. And just for a moment, let me backtrack to repeat that the teaching I’m speaking of is this: that every individual in the world has access to this fourth-dimensional, or Christ-consciousness. The Master phrased it this way, “The kingdom of God is within you”. And he spoke that broadly to everyone who heard him, not only the disciples. The kingdom of God is within you.
Now, he acknowledged that this kingdom I’m talking about, My kingdom, is not of this world. You’re never going to be able to handle it with your fingers, and you’re never going to be able to learn it with your mind because it isn’t of this world. My kingdom is of the spiritual world, of this fourth-dimensional world. He speaks of ‘My peace’. My peace give I unto thee, but not as the world giveth. Well now, that’s a strange kind of peace because the world, the peace that the world can give, is affluence, fame, reputation, success, health, home, happy family. What more does anyone want?