Where do you go after you die?

John's spoken angels of the churches chart the country when you come over [when you pass over, or transit to the other side, viz., conditions of life on the other side].

In what position do these spirit-angels stand to you then?

In the position of the angels of the churches spoken of by John. 

They were those who had passed over from this world into the world of spirits, but had not yet reached that higher state where the Master was at that time. 

Still imperfect—

Full of faults—

Striving to grow towards perfection, they were aiding their brethren on earth, as far as they could.

They would try to be true and wise angels to you, and give you some of the results of their collective knowledge and experience. 

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the angel saith unto the churches.

The Great Foundation Principles of God—Man—Human Life

If I call God Father I limit Him so far that I imply He is not my brother, and if I call Him Lord, I imply that He is not my equal—my companion—my friend.

All definitions, then, are limited, and, to a certain extent, misleading. 

The truest is that given through Moses—I AM.

 That is—

I am All-being—

All-being is myself—

Yet even this seems to shut him out of phenomena.

Yes, there is One, and only One, in the Universe—

One in whom all-being—all-force—all phenomena are united, and besides this One, there is no other—

There is no life that is not God—

There is no death that is not God—

Nothing—

No spirit—

All is One, and that One, for want of a better term, you speak of as God, while the very power with which you speak it, is God—

The Absolute—

The Limitless—

The Infinite.

What is man that Thou art mindful of him?

 Ah! he is indeed thyself, and thou God art myself—

I and He are One—

I came from God, and I shall return to Him.

Before Abraham was—I AM—

These are the words not only of the Master, but you, too, may say—

I AM—

I AM the Existent—

I AM the All-Inclusive— 

I AM the Infinite.

God is. God is.

Life is one—

It is an electrical, absolutely non-material stream of influence from the great source of life.

 

It has not been—

It cannot be discovered by the microscope or the dissecting knife—

It is not material, and cannot be revealed to material eyes, but it informs matter and is manifested in and through it. 

If you think of the Universe as a chain, it should be as of separate links strung together on an invisible string, and that string is the Breath of the Divine—

Without this Breath, the Universe would immediately dissolve, and vanish from earthly eyes. 

In the beginning, the earth was without form and void. 

In the beginning, that is, when the Living One saw fit to bring into outward manifestation some of the thoughts of His Heart, and into the chasm—the void space—He breathed the Breath of His Own Being. 

Then the fluid, gaseous, invisible matter, cohered by the power of this breath, and a solid earth arose where before was no such thing.

We do not yet know the origin of life, only its first manifestations.

Life has, broadly speaking, four forms of manifestation. 

First—

The Unconscious—

Second—

The Conscious—

Third—

The Self-conscious—

Fourth—

The God-conscious.

Its lowest form may be seen in the bare granite—

The second in vegetable life—

The third in the animal—

The fourth in man.

In these stages, the creation is well spoken of in Genesis—that book, which, as an epitome of life, can never be surpassed.

Now, these forms closely touch, and are interrelated to one another—

There is no great chasm between each—

Life is essentially the same in all—

In the lowest, it is more motionless, more dormant, but, as it rises in the scale, its motion increases. 

Is it then the same life in me that is in the stone or the flower—in the wild beast or the singing bird? 

Yes, precisely the same—in greater fullness, or more highly developed, or in whatever way it may be expressed. 

As far as that side of you—your manifested being is concerned—you are absolutely at one with all nature. 

This life is ever-seeking fresh manifestations—

When driven from one form by the break of death, it seeks another, and pressed on by the will of its Father, it seeks constantly to manifest itself, and pulses through the chain of the Universe, flowing ever round and round in great cycles from God-to-God.

Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father—thus spake one who knew.

No destruction of life is possible—

It cannot be—

It never is destroyed—

Forms fall to pieces, but the life escapes, and is manifested in some other way.

Life will pass in due time through all—from the lowest to the highest.

Pain is caused by the conflict of the physical with the psychical—

Sin by the conflict of the psyche with the pneuma. 

Both are real blessings, for they stir the forces into stronger and better action. 

When you pass over, you leave the lower form of life behind, taking only the higher, and are clothed upon with a body, which is to yours, as spirit to flesh, yet which is still a manifested form.

What is God-consciousness?

By God-consciousness, I mean the power of worship, faith in, and love for another, for the race—something higher than the affection of a dog for his master—the power that can say—

Let me perish, if through my loss others may gain.

Neither self, nor what self can give is the first thing, but a willing self-abnegation for the good of any.

This I call God-consciousness, as it is his leading characteristic, so-to-speak. 

This is the seed of God that can never perish, but must be immortal, as He is immortal.

The chain of life, then, runs through all creation, binding all together, and into it is breathed the true breath of the Divine, giving to all a new and higher life, which is their true ego, and which will endure when heaven, earth, and all manifested being will have passed away.

Think of Life as the pulse of God beating in the body of humanity—

Think of the Divine breath, seeking to infuse and expand the physical—

Think of it as the soul of force, as the soul of motion, seeking ever to express itself—to become in conscious being what it is in essential spirit.

All circumstances—all influences—that seem to be evil or against the best welfare of any human being are only apparently so—

The hidden life seeks for such surroundings as will aid it to develop and to grow in the best possible manner.

When you get rid of all idea of you being punished, condemned, or even injured by your inherited tendencies, or by the evil example of others, you will have some clouds removed from your vision, and will have confidence in the absolute fairness of your destiny.

Lord, which did sin—this man—or his parents—that he was born blind? 

Neither this man nor his parents—but that the glory of God should be manifested.

That is—not that God should be made more worthy of honour by causing a miracle to be performed, but that the glory of God should be made manifest by the man becoming—through his blindness, and its removal—what he could not have become in any other way.

This does not imply that there is no such thing, as sin and its consequences—

You do hinder, and retard your progress by your own folly, but these sins are, after all, but partial and superficial—

You will soon escape from them and rise into a higher and clearer atmosphere. 

What you need to do in considering life is to look upon it as a whole. 

Proceeding forth from God—

Born of Him—

The Divine breath incarnates itself for a time in clay—

It rises from the non-sentient to the sentient—

To the conscious, and the God-conscious until you stand complete—perfect—the I AM!

You, then, are, in no wise, the victim of circumstances, you rather are placed in such surroundings, as will aid you in your upward path. 

The true ego never sins, and cannot, being born of God—

He is immaculate—

Perfect—

It is only in the physical and psychical that these dark shadows exist for a time to give shelter to the tender spirit.

None. then, can say to his brother—I have no need of thee—

All are one, and to destroy a part—if that were possible—would be to destroy the whole.

The kingdom of Heaven is within us.

Strive, then, to fight with, and overcome these opposing, but helping forces—that, in the striving, you may become strong, and may be reconciled with, and united to those very things, which seem to be against you—

Struggle to break free from the bondage of your physical nature when that holds you too firmly—

Let your folded wings expand and carry you to the psychical, then, again, you will burst that covering and rise to the spiritual.

Briefly, to recapitulate then—

There is One—

The Nameless—

The Infinite—

He becomes man and manifests himself in phenomena.

This manifestation becomes more and more complete until it may be said to again withdraw from phenomena, and (though still self-conscious) return to the bosom of the Infinite.