27This realization will surely come, when you can recognize that this Message is from Me, andwhen you have determined that it shall be. To you, whom I have inspired with such adetermination, I will cause every illusion in time to disappear, and you shall in truth know Me.The exercise of your mind along these abstract lines will not hurt you. Instead it is what yourmind needs. For, not until you can grasp My Meaning when presented to you in ideas such asthere herein contained, coming from without, can you perceive and correctly interpret My Ideawhen I inspire you from within. Your mind I AM thus preparing for USE, not to gain moreEarthly knowledge, but in order that you can receive and give forth My Heavenly Knowledge tothose whom I shall bring to you for that purpose.With a prayer to Me, Your Own Real Self, your Father-in-Heaven, that true realization maycome, read carefully what follows

Whether or not you have gotten any clear grasp of what has just been stated, do not discard it asimpossible of comprehension. For in every line is hidden a meaning that will more than repayyou for the study necessary to make it become clear.This Message is to awaken you to a realization of what You are, to a realization of your real Self.It is intended to make you once more conscious of Me, your Divine Self, so conscious that neveragain will you be deceived by that other self, which you have imagined as being you and whichso long has lured you on by feeding you with its unsatisfying sense pleasures, its mentaldissipations and emotional delights

26This Temple, being in My Image and Likeness, and composed of My Thought Substance,surrounding and clothing My Idea, is consequently your Real body. It is therefore indestructible,immortal, perfect. It is My complete, imagined (imaged in) Thought, containing My LivingEssence, awaiting the time when it can come into outer expression and take on material form

saw You in perfect expression, even as I see You now -- the Real You, an Attribute of My Self-- perfect.For in Reality You are an Angel of Light, one of My Thought Rays, an Attribute of My Being,ensouled in Earth conditions, with no other purpose (which is no purpose at all, but a necessity ofMy Being) but the final complete expression of My Idea.

finally how to control and utilizeyour desires so that they will always serve YOU, instead of your being a slave to them.You have within you all possibilities. For I AM there. My Idea must express, and It must expressthrough you. It will express itself perfectly --- if you but let it; if you will only still your humanmind, put aside all personal ideas, beliefs and opinions, and let if flow forth. All you need to dois to turn within to Me, and let Me direct your thinking and your desires, let Me express whateverI will, you personally accepting and doing what I desire you to do. Then will your desires cometrue, your life become one grand harmony, your world a heaven and your self one with My Self.When you have begun to realize this and have glimpsed somewhat of its inner meaning, then youwill be ready to grasp the real import of what follo

For who is the master? -- Your body, your mind, or You, the I AM within?Then why not show You are master, by thinking the true things the I AM of you within wishesyou to think?It is only by your thinking these other things, by allowing these inharmonious thoughts to enteryour mind and by so doing giving them the power so to affect or disturb you, that they have anysuch influence over you. When you stop thinking into them this power, and turn within to Meand allow Me to direct your thinking, they will at once disappear from your consciousness, anddissolve into the nothingness from which you created them by your thinking.When you are willing to do this, then and then only are you ready to receive Truth, and, byproper conscious thinking, directed by Me, to create the true and permanent things I within wishyou to create.Then, when you can thus distinguish the true from the false, the real from the seeming, yourconscious thinking will be as potent to create all things you desire, as has been yourunconsciousness thinking in the past in creating those things you once desired but now findobnoxious

Therefore you can change them by the same process, if they do not please you; you can makethem whatever you will, by thinking them so. Can you not?But how can one do real thinking, conscious thinking, so as to bring about this change? You ask.First know that I, your Real Self, purposely brought to your attention these things which now aredispleasing and which cause you to think them as being what they now seem to be to you. I, andI alone, AM thus preparing your human mind so that, when you turn within to Me in abidingFaith and Trust, I can enable you to see and bring into outer manifestation the Reality of thesethings which now seem so unsatisfactory.For I bring to you everything that, by its outer seeming, can attract or lure your human mindonward in its Earthly search, in order to teach you of the illusoriness of all outer appearance ofmaterial things to the human mind, and of the fallibility of all human understanding; so that youwill turn finally within to Me and My Wisdom, as the One and Only Interpreter and Guide.When you have turned thus within to Me, I will open your eyes and cause you to see that theonly way you can ever bring about this change in thinking, is by first changing your attitudetoward all these things you now think are not what they ought to be.That is, if they are unsatisfactory or obnoxious to you and affect you so as to cause youdiscomfort of body or disturbance of mind, --why, stop thinking that they can so affect or disturbyou

You have been told that each cell of your body has a consciousness and an intelligence of itsown; that were it not for this consciousness it could not do the work it so intelligently does.Each cell is surrounded by millions of other cells, each intelligently doing its own work and eachevidently controlled by the united consciousness of all these cells, forming a group intelligence,which directs and controls this work; this group intelligence apparently being the intelligence ofthe organ which the cells comprising it form. Likewise, there are other group intelligences inother organs, each containing other millions of cells, and all these organs make up your physicalbody.Now, you know You are the Intelligence that directs the work of the organs of your body,whether this directing is done consciously or unconsciously; and that each cell of each organ isreally a focal center of this directing Intelligence; and that when this Intelligence is withdrawnthe cells fall apart, your physical body dies and exists no more as a living organism.Who is this You who directs and controls the activities of your organs, and consequently of eachcell composing them?You cannot say it is your human or personal self who does this, for you of yourself consciouslycan control the action of scarcely a single organ of your body.It must then be this Impersonal I AM of you, which is You, and yet is not you.Listen!You, the I AM of you, are to Me what the cell consciousness of your body is to your I AMConsciousness.You are a cell, as it were, of My Body, and your consciousness (as one of My Cells) is to Mewhat the consciousness of one of the cells of your body is to You

I AM You, the Real Self of you, All that you really are. That which you think you are, you arenot. That is only an illusion, a shadow of the Real You, which is I, your Immortal, Divine Self.I AM that point of consciousness focalized in your human mind which calls itself "I". I AM that"I", but that which you call your consciousness is in reality My Consciousness, thinned down tosuit the capacity of your human mind. It is still My Consciousness, and when you can drive fromyour mind all its human misconceptions, ideas and opinions, and can cleanse and empty itutterly, so that My Consciousness can have a chance to express freely, then you will recognizeMe and you will know that you are nothing -- being only a focal center of My Consciousness, anavenue of medium through which I can express My meaning -- in matter.

Again I say, this I AM speaking herein is the Real Self of you, and in reading these words it isnecessary that you realize it is You, your own Self, that is speaking them to your humanconsciousness, in order fully to comprehend their meaning.I also repeat, this is the same I AM that is the Life and Spirit animating all living things in theUniverse, from the tiniest atom to the greatest Sun; that this I AM is the Intelligence in you andin your brother and sister; and that it is likewise the Intelligence which causes everything to liveand grow and become that which it is their destiny to be.Perhaps you cannot yet understand how this I AM can be, at one and the same time, the I AM ofyou and the I AM of your brother, and also the Intelligence of the stone, the plant, and theanimal.You will see this, however, if you follow these My Words and obey the instructions hereingiven; for I will soon bring to your consciousness a Light that will illumine the deepest recessesof your mind and drive away all the clouds of human misconceptions, ideas and opinions thatnow darken your intellect, -- if you read on and strive earnestly to comprehend My Meaning.

I AM the Innermost, the Spirit, the animating Cause of your being, of all life, of all living things,both visible and invisible. There is nothing dead, for I, the Impersonal ONE, AM all that there is.I AM Infinite and wholly unconfined; the Universe is My Body, all the Intelligence there isemanates from My Mind, all the Love there is flows from My Heart, all the Power there is, is butMy Will in action.The threefold Force, manifesting as all Wisdom, all Love, all Power, or if you will, as Light,Heat, and Energy “ that which holds together all forms and is back of and in all expressions andphases of life, -- is but the manifestation of My Self in the act or state of Being.Nothing can Be without manifesting and expressing some phase of Me, Who AM not only theBuilder of all forms, but the Dweller in each. In the heart of each I dwell; in the heart of thehuman, in the heart of the animal, in the heart of the flower, in the heart of the stone. In the heartof each I live and move and have My Being, and from out the heart of each I send forth thatphase of Me I desire to express, and which manifests in the outer world as a stone, a flower, ananimal, a man

that which you have read has awakened a response within, and the Soul of you yearns formore, -- then you are ready for what follows.If you still question or rebel at the seeming assumption of Divine authority for what is hereinwritten, your intellect telling you it is but another attempt to beguile your mind with cunningsuggestion and subtle sophistry, -- then you will receive no benefit from these words; for theirmeaning is as yet hidden from your mortal consciousness, and My Word must come to youthrough other avenues of expression.It is well if your personality with its intellect impels you thus to question and rebel againstauthority you do not yet know to be Mine. It is really I Who cause your personality thus to rebel;for your personality with its proud sense of individuality is still needed by Me to develop a mindand body strong enough that they can perfectly express Me. Until you have become prepared toknow Me it is but natural for your personality thus to question and rebel. Once you recognize MyAuthority, that moment the undermining of the authority of the personality has begun. The daysof its dominion are numbered, and you will more and more turn to Me for help and guidance.Therefore, be not dismayed. Read on, and mayhap the recognition will come. But know that youcan read or not, as you choose; but if you do it is really I Who choose, and not you.For you, who seemingly choose not to read further, I have plans, and in due season you shalllearn that whatever you do, or like, or desire, it is I leading you through all the fallacies andillusions of the personality, that you may finally awaken to their unreality and then turn to Me asthe one and only Reality. Then these words will find a response within:

8Yes, I sit here within, quietly waiting for this; yet while waiting it was really I Who directed allyour ways, Who inspired all your thoughts and acts, impersonally utilizing and manipulatingeach so as eventually to bring you and My other human expressions to a final consciousrecognition of Me.Yes, I have been within always, deep within your heart. I have been with you through all, --through your joys and heartaches, your successes and mistakes, through your evil-doing, yourshame, your crimes against your brother and against God, as you thought.Aye, whether you went straight ahead, or strayed aside, or stepped backward, it was I Whobrought you through.It was I Who urged you on by the glimpse of Me in the dim distance.It was I Who lured you by a vision of Me in some bewitching face, or beautiful body, orintoxicating pleasure, or over-powering ambition.It was I Who appeared before you within the garb of Sin, or Weakness, or Greed, or Sophistry,and drove you back into the arms of Conscience, leaving you to struggle in its shadowy grasp;until you awakened to its impotence, rose up in disgust, and in the inspiration of a new visiontore off My mask.Yes, it is I Who cause you to do all things, and if you can see it, it is I Who do all things that youdo, and all things that your brother does; for that in you and in him which IS, is I, My Self

But in all your seeking and all your striving, let it be with faith and trust in Me, your True Selfwithin, and without being anxious about results; for the results are all in My keeping, and I willtake care of them. Your doubts and your anxiety are but of the personality, and if allowed topersist will lead only to failure and disappointmen

this "I" is yourself, your Real Self. Your human mind has heretofore been soengrossed with the task of supplying its intellect and body with all manner of selfish indulgences,that it has never had time to get acquainted with the Real You, its true Lord and Master. Youhave been so interested in and affected by the pleasures and sufferings of your body and intellect,that you have almost come to believe You are your intellect and body, and you haveconsequently nearly forgotten Me, your Divine Self.I AM not your intellect and body, and this Message is to teach that You and I are One. Thewords I herein speak, and the main burden of these instructions, is to awaken your consciousnessto this great fact.You cannot awaken to this fact until you can get away from the consciousness of this body andintellect, which so long have held you enslaved. You must feel Me within, before you can know IAM there.

Listen!Try to imagine the "I" who speaks throughout these pages as being your Higher or Divine Self,addressing and counseling your human mind and intellect, which you will consider for themoment as being a separate personality. Your human mind is so constituted that it cannot acceptanything which does not conform with what it has previously experienced or learned, and whichits intellect does not consider reasonable. Therefore, in addressing it, You are using such termsand expressions as will most clearly explain to your intellect the truths it must understand beforethe mind can awaken to the consciousness of your meaning

4Be Still! and KNOW I AM GodNow, in order that you may learn to know Me, so that you can be sure it is I, your own True Self,Who speak these words, you must first learn to Be Still, to quiet your human mind and body andall their activities, so that you no longer are conscious of them.You may not yet be able to do this, but I will teach you how, if you really want to know Me, andare willing to prove it by trusting Me and obeying Me in all that I now shall call upon you to do

I, the I AM of you, bring to you this My Message, My living Word, as I have brought to youeverything in life, be it book or "Master" to teach you that I and I alone, your own True Self, AMThe Teacher for you, the only Teacher and the only God, Who is and always has been providingyou not only with the Bread and Wine of Life, but with all things needed for your physical,mental and spiritual growth and sustenance.Therefore that which appeals to YOU, as you read, is MY Message, spoken to your outer humanconsciousness from within, and is but a confirmation of that which the I AM of you always knewwithin, but had not yet translated in definite, tangible terms to your outer consciousness.Likewise, all that ever appealed to You, coming from some outward expression, was but theconfirmation of My Word already spoken within. The outward expression was the avenue ormeans I chose at the time through which to reach and impress your human or self consciousness.I AM not your human mind, nor its child, the intellect. They are but the expression of yourBeing, as you are the expression of My Being; they are but phases of your human personality, asYou are a phase of My Divine Impersonality