Experiments in a Search For God - Mark Thurston

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real. At the end of each day, review your thought patterns. Record those that you feel were especially constructive or helpful. Without a sense of self-condemnation, record those that you feel were not consistent with your ideals.

       “In whatever state we find society let us meet it upon its own level: as we look up, we lift it. That is cooperation.”

      This beautiful definition of cooperation calls to mind the necessity for sensitivity and humility. We can rarely help another person unless we are sensitive to and aware of his place in consciousness. We must listen to hear what his special needs are and adapt that which we would give to meet those needs. It does little good to talk over the heads of others, even if one is expounding spiritual truth. Jesus was no doubt a great scholar of the Torah and the mysteries, yet he spoke to the common man in parables.

      It also takes humility to cooperate in this way. Outwardly it may appear that one has given in to the way or concerns of others. However, in meeting society or someone else at his own level, one must retain a sense of ideal and purpose. It is then that one can truly add something meaningful to the perspective or awareness of another who is seeking. This process is demonstrated by a young man who is a student of the readings and other spiritual teachings. In an effort to make available the teachings of spiritual law to many who might otherwise be closed to such considerations, he has made a detailed study of the esoteric and spiritual symbology of the Great Seal of the United States, as well as the spiritual interests of the Founding Fathers. Through lectures, writing and painting he has given many people an avenue to a deeper understanding of life by allowing them to grow from where they are.

      The principle from the readings is that a soul can grow only from where it is at that time. We must respect that principle as we look for ways to practice cooperation. This was the approach of the Master.

       … for He took individuals where they were, in their own environ, their own surroundings, and transmitted to their consciousness—either by act, word or deed—that necessary to awaken or allow that necessary to bring healing to those who sought for same.

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      Experiment: Work on being sensitive to where others are in consciousness. Without compromising your own ideals, be willing to speak to others in their own language; show concern for the problems and questions in their own minds (not so much the questions you think they ought to be concerned about). Record the experiences in which you are able to be helpful to someone by meeting that individual at his or her own level.

       “We must lose ourselves in Him …”

      Referring once again to a model of the nature of man suggested in a dream of Edgar Cayce (294-131), let us consider what it is that keeps us from letting go and losing ourselves in the awareness of His presence. Between ourselves as conscious, physical beings and the superconscious awareness of the oneness of all life, there exists storehouse of memory patterns we can call the subconscious.

      We might think of the subconscious as a collection of our habitual patterns of response: karma. Although we may have built habit patterns that are constructive and consistent with the divine (so-called “good karma”), the vast preponderance of the memory patterns of the subconscious are limiting and self-centered (e.g., tendencies to feel sorry for oneself, tendencies to hold resentments).

      It is only as we withdraw our attention from these patterns which form a barrier that we can expect to regain the awareness of His spirit moving through our lives. Perhaps the most difficult of all patterns to let go of is the one that says, “I’m really pretty satisfied with the way things are and I don’t want to risk change.” The law of inertia pertains not only to physics but to growth in consciousness as well. Don’t we all suspect that dramatic changes in personality and life direction might happen within us if we were able to contact His presence regularly? To the old, habitual self, which is caught in inertia, this is very threatening. It can throw up very resistant barriers to keep us from losing ourselves in Him.

      Experiment: Choose and write down a habit pattern that is especially characteristic of your own limited, ego self. Pray each day that as your real self you may let loose of your involvement with that pattern. Cultivate an attitude of openness to His healing for this part of your life. At the end of each day, record any situations during the day where you experienced losing this particular limited sense of self.

       “Let us replace our negative thoughts with positive ones, thinking not unkindly of anyone but rather speaking and thinking kindly of all.”

      One definition of kindness is caring for the feelings of others and anticipating how our words and actions will make the other person feel. A kind word might be one that awakens a feeling of hope, joy or appreciation. An unkind one might awaken defensiveness or guilt. And yet kindness does not mean that we always say yes. Since there are many levels of feeling and response within us, saying no is sometimes the better, kinder way to awaken positive feelings deep within the person, even though the mind and body of that individual may feel disappointed or hurt.

       Keep it [your soul) then in patience, in love, in gentleness, in kindness … For these are indeed the fruits of the spirit … And remember, a kindness sometimes consists in denying as well as granting those activities in associations with thy fellow man.

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      We must also be careful not to judge our own kind words and acts too soon. The promise in the readings is that “the soul never forgets” and growth will come from the good we do to others. We simply must not put time limitations on the manifestations of that good.

       Yes, yes, here we have an entity meeting its own self. These are not desirous and yet it is for the unfoldment and development of this soul-entity. Physically, only helpful influences may be brought for the mental and soul-self. Much may be the contribution for this entity in the present in kindness, patience, love. All of these are needed in the body. These will aid the soul. For, remember, the soul never forgets and that which is practiced to the soul, in the soul, will bring eventually a growth in the knowledge, in the understanding of the love of the Creative Forces.

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      Experiment: Work on relating to others with kindness. Especially focus on speaking kindly. Record those instances where you were able to replace an impulse to speak harshly or thoughtlessly with kind words. Record as well, without a sense of self-condemnation, those instances where greater kindness than you expressed would have been helpful.

       “As we open our minds, our hearts, and our souls, that we may be channels of blessings, we then have the mind of the Christ, who took upon Himself the burden of the world. So may we, in our little spheres, take upon ourselves the burdens of our world.”

      What was the work completed by Jesus who became the Christ? Some would say that it was simply to serve as an example, that He was a soul just like we are and was simply the first one to make it back to God. Such a response would also assume that we are all on our own to make it back to God and that we cannot expect any intervention from Jesus, except as He serves as a source of inspiration. At the other extreme are those who say that the work of Jesus was so all-inclusive that we merely have to profess faith in Him and we are saved. We no longer have to face responsibility for the things we have built.

      The approach in the readings takes a middle course between these two extremes. It suggests that we are individually responsible for dealing with that which we have built in many lifetimes, yet Jesus did a special thing that makes our work easier. He took upon Himself the weight of all the self-centered patterns that mankind had built (the subconscious minds of mankind) and through His death and resurrection was able to build a new, unique pattern within the subconscious mind of every individual. The superconscious awareness was moved one step closer to man’s physical, conscious mind. To redraw the model of the nature of man we have:

      We

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