subconscious mind of the truth of it — that moment your mind will proceed to make it true. This is the way to put into practice the Master’s advice — “Believe that ye RECEIVE it, and ye SHALL HAVE it.”
There is no condition so hopeless, no cause so far gone, that this truth will not save it. Time and again patients given over by their doctors as doomed have made miraculous recoveries through the faith of some loved one.
“I hope that everyone who reads this Book may gain as much from their first reading as I did,” writes a happy subscriber from New York City. “I got such a clear understanding from that one reading that I was able to break the mental chain holding a friend to a hospital bed, and she left the hospital in three days, to the very great astonishment of the doctors handling the case.”
In the same way, there are innumerable instances where threatened calamity has been warded off and good come instead. The great trouble with most of us is, we do not believe. We insist upon looking for trouble. We feel that the “rainy day” is bound to come, and we do our utmost to make it a surety by keeping it in our thoughts, preparing for it, fearing it. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” We cross our bridges a dozen times before we come to them. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our ability, we doubt everyone and everything around us, and our doubts sap our energy; kill our enthusiasm; rob us of success. We arc like the old lady who “enjoys poor health.” We always place that little word “but” after our wishes and desires, feeling deep down that there are some things too good to be true. We think there is a power apart from Good, which can withhold blessings that should be ours. We doubt because we cannot see the way by which our desires can be fulfilled. We put a limit upon the good that can come to us.
“Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts,” cried the Prophet Malachi, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it... And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land.”
Your mind is part of Universal Mind. And Universal Mind has all supply. You are entitled to, and you can have, just as much of that supply as you are able to appropriate. To expect less is to get less, for it dwarfs your power of receiving.
It doesn’t matter what your longings may be, provided they are right longings. If your little son has his heart set on a train and you feel perfectly able to get him a train, you are not going to hand him a picture book instead. It may be that the picture book would have greater educational value, but the love you have for your son is going to make you try to satisfy his longings as long as those longings are not harmful ones.
In the same way, Universal Mind will satisfy your longings, no matter how trivial they may seem, as long as they are not harmful ones. “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
If we would only try to realize that God is not some far-off Deity, not some stern Judge, but the beneficent force that we recognize as Nature — the life Principle that makes the flowers bud, and the plants grow, that spreads abundance about us with lavish band. If we could realize that He is the Universal Mind that holds all supply, that will give us the toy of our childhood or the needs of maturity, that all we need to obtain from Him our Heart’s Desire is a right understanding of His availability — then we would lose all our fears, all our worries, all our sense of limitation.
For Universal Mind is an infinite, unlimited source of good. Not only the source of general good, but the specific good things you desire of life. To It there is no big or little problem. The removal of mountains is no more difficult than the feeding of a sparrow.
And to one — like the Master — with a perfect understanding, the “miracle” of raising Lazarus from the dead required no more effort than the turning of the water into wine. He knew that Universal Mind is all power — and there cannot be more than ALL. He knew that “To know God aright is life eternal.” And Jesus knew God aright, so was able to demonstrate this knowledge of life eternal in overcoming sin, disease and death. For it is one and the same law that heals sin, sickness, poverty, heartaches, or death itself. That law is the right understanding of Divine Principle.
But what does this ability to perform “miracles” consist of? What is the power or force by which we can prove this ability? Perhaps the simplest way is to begin with the realization that Universal Mind is man’s working power.
The Science of Thought
Can you stretch your mind a bit and try to comprehend this wonderful fact — that the ALL POWERFUL, ALL-KNOWING, EVERLASTING CREATOR and Governor of the infinite universe, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance,” is your working power? In proportion as we understand this fact, and make use of it, in that same proportion are we able to perform our miracles.
Your work is inspired to the extent that you realize the presence of Universal Mind in your work. When you rely entirely on your own conscious mind, your work suffers accordingly. “I can of mine own self do nothing; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me.” The miracles of Jesus bear witness of the complete recognition of God the Father as his working power.
And mind you, this inspiration, this working of Universal Mind with you, is available for all of your undertakings. Mind could not show Itself in one part of your life and withhold Itself from another, since It is all in all. Every rightly directed task, no matter how insignificant or menial it may appear to you, carries with it the inspiration of Universal Mind, since by the very nature of omnipotence, Its love and bestowals must be universal and impartial, “and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord.”
Too many of us are like the maiden in the old Eastern legend. A Genii sent her into a field of grain, promising her a rare gift if she would pick for him the largest and ripest ear she could find; His gift to be in proportion to the size and perfection of the ear.
But he made this condition — she must pluck but one ear, and she must walk straight through the field without stopping, going back or wandering hither and thither.
Joyously she started. As she walked through the grain, she saw many large ears, many perfect ones. She passed them by in scorn, thinking to find an extra-large, super-perfect one farther along. Presently, however, the soil became less fertile, the ears small and sparse. She couldn’t pick one of these! Would now that she had been content with an ordinary-sized ear farther back. But it was too late for that. Surely they would grow better again farther on!
She walked on — and on — and always they became worse — ‘till presently she found herself at the end of the field — empty handed as when she set out!
So it is with life. Every day has its worthwhile rewards for work well done. Every day offers its chance for happiness. But those rewards seem so small, those chances so petty, compared with the big things we see ahead. So we pass them by, never recognizing that the great position we look forward to, the shining prize we see in the distance, is just the sum of all the little tasks, the heaped up result of all the little prizes that we must win as we go along.
You are not commanded to pick out certain occupations as being more entitled to the Lord’s consideration than others, but “Whatsoever ye do.” Whether it be in the exalted and idealistic realms of poetry, music and art, whether in the cause of religion or philanthropy, whether in government, in business, in science, or simply in household cares, “whatsoever ye do” you are entitled to and have all of inspiration at your beck and call. If you seem to have less than all, it is because you do not utilize your gift.
“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborer’s together with God.” “All things are yours; and ye are Christ’s and Christ’s is God’s.”
How shall you take advantage of this Universal Supply? When next any need confronts you, when next you are in difficulties, close your eyes for a moment