Lesson 4: No One to Change but Self — section 74
Lesson 4: No One to Change but Self
You answer, “Some say John come again, Some say Elias, others say Jeremiah, and still others a Prophet of old come again.”
It is very flattering to be told that you are, or that you resemble, the great men of the past, but enlightened reason is not enslaved by public opinion. It is only concerned with the truth so it asks itself another question, “But whom say ye that I am?” In other words, “Who am I?”
If I am bold enough to assume that I am Christ Jesus, the answer will come back, “Thou are Christ Jesus.”
When I can assume it and feel it and boldly live it, I will say to myself, “Flesh and blood could not have told me this. But my Father which is in Heaven revealed it unto me.” Then I make this concept of Self the rock on which I establish my church, my world.
“If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” John 8:24
Because consciousness is the only reality I must assume that I am already that which I desire to be. If I do not believe that I am already what I want to be, then I remain as I am and die in this limitation.
Man is always looking for some prop on which to lean. He is always looking for some excuse to justify failure. This revelation gives man no excuse for failure. His concept of himself is the cause of all the circumstances of his life. All changes must first come from within himself; and if he does not change on the outside it is because he has not changed within. But man does not like to feel that he is solely responsible for the conditions of his life.
“From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?”
“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” John 6:66-68