Excerpts from
Conscious Immortality by James E. Dodds Order in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $6.95 (+ printing charge) or click here to order in printed form from Amazon.com for $18.95 Book Description This
book has been pronounced a new step in
philosophic and religious thought, giving the true breadth of the
ethical and
spiritual message of the Master, which is satisfying alike to
scientist, religionist,
or even the materialist. It explains why all our modern
notions of Time,
Space, Substance, and Spirit were anticipated in the True Ideas of
Great
Beings. It explains Who you are, and what you can hope to know and he.
Any
human being who will take the time properly to understand this
cosmology need
never feel alone or helpless again. For the first time, there is given
an
analysis of prayer which will satisfy both mystic and materialist. With
these
techniques and this philosophy, Doctor Dodds has been able to mend
hundreds of
broken lives and bodies. Even for the strongest and most
self-sufficient, this
book will be an education in the meanings of Life and Intelligence, why
they
appear, and from whence have they come. Contents: Introduction to Thinking; Concepts of Man About Himself and God; The Nature of Man's Becoming; The Ego, the Real Thinker; Consciousness; The Thinker Changes Things; How Man May Know the Love of God; A New Approach to Prayer.
FOREWORD THE REAL LIGHT which guides man
is not
dependent upon
the light which preceded it. Mental illumination is not dependent
upon the
concepts held at any one time or place. It is, therefore, not the
purpose of
this work to adjust itself to, or harmonize with, anything else in
philosophy
or spiritual science. This is a philosophy of intuition. The light
herein
contained was secured intuitively and is, for the most part, pure
and
original. It must carry within itself the power and the conviction of
its
worth. Those who
have a bent for comparisons may make them, but it is suggested that he
who
reads shall place himself in the position of one asking questions and
then
listening attentively for the answer, rather than comparing the ideas
expressed
here with others he may have entertained. The mere fact that one is
interested
in such subjects shows a mind which is questioning and thirsty for
those hints,
ideas, or concepts that are useful in making possible a step forward.
No honest
seeker expects to find at once the ultimate truth, but rather so much
of it as
provides a more positive approach to the ultimate. Progression is
infinite. This work
represents an intuitive release of a group of ideas which deal with man
and his
possibilities as a spiritual being. I have elaborated on some
relative
concepts in order to clarify the aims of our search. The reader
is asked
to examine each chapter carefully. By doing so, he will find that the
ideas
will come into harmonious pattern. Later, he is asked to read the
chapter again
from the standpoint of how it "feels" to him. A sympathetic
reaction
indicates capacity or readiness to accept and appropriate new light.
Ideas
which are presented to us are but a spur to personal effort. The truth
needed
by each individual must come as a pure certainty from the depths of
self, and
not just as something which denies or affirms what has gone before.
Only what
is really needed by the individual, at the level of his understanding,
can be
recognized and properly valued. To this extent truth is self-evident. Those who
have come to respect intuition will find happy response to much that is
presented here. Those to whom intuition is a stranger will profit by
the ideas,
for among them may be found the light so essential to a quickening
within of
the spiritual forces. If we read with interest and expectation we shall
always
be rewarded. From within the soul will come the approval. New ideas
are frequently shocking. The degree of "shock" is the measure of
crystallization of attitude. It is a sign of the need for more light.
The
search for truth necessarily leads to new paths of understanding and
necessitates
an integrity of determination; for only the independent and
fearless are
privileged to break new ground. These enter into union with treasures
of
Reality which alone quench the deep thirst of the soul and reveal new
vistas of
possible growth. The
satisfaction gained through attainment gives one new strength to
proceed. The
student who remains young in attitude will remain more youthful in mind
and
body. In reality, the Universe permits no tarrying. The question is one
of
choice in growth, whether or not we are to press on to greater heights,
gaining
new strength with each new accomplishment. Only he
wearies who has lost the way, never he who has the goal clearly in
sight and
feels the urge for new progress. The process is one of natural sequence
and
order. There is neither hurry nor lag, for the seeker in
consciousness must
not leave the state of poise and control. He is ever about the business
of
living harmoniously with new measures of eternal values, thus enhancing
that
portion of the endless days of spiritual light which are spent on earth. The reader is
invited to enjoy with the author these aspects of truth given him, and
to enter
into that larger life of intelligent responsibility which belongs to
those who
know the "way" and who have gained the strength to walk therein. Chapter
1
INTRODUCTION
TO THINKING REAL THINKING is
a creative function. Many have stri-ven to untangle the ideas of man in
order
to ascertain which of these ideas arise from intuition, which from
reaction to
earth-experience, and which from tradition and hearsay. But whatever we
may
think of the thought processes of the human brain, we shall all agree
that its
uses and possibil-ities are as yet quite unfathomed. Also, we must
recognize
that somewhere, between the Universal which is innate, and the
explicitly-expressed, lies a mental realm which is creative.
Unconcerned with
what always has been, the thinker seeks to express a new aspect of
truth,
infinitely valuable offspring of intuition and reason, a little above
the
temporary "wheel of things." This, I am pleased to call real
thinking. Creative thought
is something we have always accorded to genius though we deny it to
ordinary
men. It should not be difficult to prove that moments of illumination
belong
to all; though with most of us, at our present stage of development,
they are a
seeming accident, a momentary equilibrium, when the mists and fogs of
earthly
uncertainty drift apart and there is experienced a moment of joy
and divine
certainty akin to ecstasy. Reason alone is but the servant of such an
experience. I once had
a student who described to me such a moment of her childhood. She
told of
walking through her father's orchard one spring morning. The trees were
in
blossom and the birds were singing. There seemed to be wings on her
slippers
and even the flower-pattern on the child's dress seemed alive and
immortal.
When old, she remembered every detail of bark and twig, a poignant
memory like
an indelible photograph of a world wherein goodness and beauty reigned.
Recurrently throughout her life, more real than the events which we
speak of as
really important, came the inspiration of this vision. Why? I believe
because
she captured in that timeless realization an idea of the victorious
nature of
the human soul. Surely this is "touching the hem of the garment." Perhaps if
we become real students of life, these experiences will become
more frequent,
at least for those who cultivate them, for I am certain we are fed
according to
our own call or need. Mind could have no purpose here unless it were to
bring
order where now reigns a tragic disorder and a plotless waste. Solomon
and
Shakespeare sensed this. For it is the feeling of frustration that
enrages the
human soul. It is the picture of inadequacy, both in the personal and
in the
national scene, in contradiction to all our inborn convictions, that
preys upon
man to destroy him, body and mind—or mind, then body. For the only real
victories are those gained within—the occasional triumphs of purpose
over dumb,
racial fumbling. The great
performance of Man on Earth changes its stage-lighting, let us
say from
candle to incandescent globe, but the drama remains much the same unless
viewed with a
detachment worthy of a Being so keenly aware of its progression as
never to be
over-awed or confused. To find such illumination, we must adjust the
focus of
our mental-sights to something which seems more remote, but is more
real, than
the world of nature-forms; in truth, toward that shadowy something
partially
sensed in poetry, music, and meditative worship, which is nearer the
Essence
and truth of forms. It is this
understanding Self that is the shaper of destinies, and to which
we must hearken—the
silent voice of the Knower within, occasionally heard as conscience or
as
inspiration above the din and confusion of world-mind. For it is this
Real
Thinker who is the builder and whose wis-dom is divine. He it is who is
at home
in the great universe. It is He alone who can cognize the truth back of
this
drama of changing forms, and He alone who can introduce order and truth
and beauty
where now are confusion and chance. So it is
not natural to the vision of untutored mortal-mind to grasp the
Universal other
than by some process of illumi-nation—some earned unity with True Self.
The
present is one picture in a sequence appearing between the past of
memory and
the future of possibility—a drawing on the face of nature to be erased
and
re-drawn to ever better proportions. Life will never be static. Neither is
there a universal realm of fixed truth, for these Soul-builders will
create the
mosaic of life. What Divine Son, containing within his seed-germ the
unity of
all duality, the power of both Will and Love, the combined inheritance
of
Mother-Father God, will halt his journey when the already-at-hand
Incomes too
shallow an acquaintance? When an earth-unit ceases to assimilate
its
substance, refuses to function, we say it dies. But there is no death
for Egos. Beyond the
relational thinking of form life there must be realms of realization
requiring
tools more delicately tempered, more subtly direct than any of
earth. Into
these it is not our purpose to probe, except to establish clearly the
pattern
of earth-man and his earth-mind as a symbolic tool of the Ego-Thinker.
This
idea is worthy of our meditative consideration. For the Egos are
the units of
creative intelligence which comprise the power of the Holy Ghost, the
Christ or
Master consciousness, which the historical person, Jesus, personified.
Such are
the Sons of the Body of God. Where men
have failed is in the recognition of their ability, first in Real mind
(heaven), and then in form (on earth), to control at will the universal
energy
which is substance—the clothing, as it were, of ideas. All
aspects of life are "thinkable." This we have proved to some extent,
even as we slowly and mechanically destroy, in order to
understand, the forms
about us. If there were no mental pole to the Life Force which
expresses in
these forms, reason could never trace its processes or hope to build
better
ones. So back of
inspirational thinking lives an Ego, willing to express through a
receptive
intellect as God is willing to express through His child. The destiny of man
on earth
is in the hands of those who will think. Life and religion
cannot be
separated, for a man's religion is his process of interpreting life.
Those
truly live who have a true religion. The doors of human freedom are
just
beginning to open. There are many doors just as there is much
ingenuity, but
all lead to that unity which ever has been the dream of men.
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