How Can I Help Myself?

Edna Miriam Lister

May 31, 1960

Cleveland, Ohio

The fervency of your prayer determines your miracles. The higher you go, the more tests you will face. If you always love God fervently, you need no tests because you would not let go. So, if you are still being tested, you have not yet reached that high point of freedom.

We must know how to help ourselves. We begin at the Source. The Emanations, Wisdom, Love and the Logos of Joy, form three Fundamental Principles, Mind, Substance and Power. Fundamental Principle is the unchangeable controlling Power of God in action. From Fundamental Principles we derive all Primary Laws, which we then modify into secondary Laws. We apply Principles and Laws either in an instantaneous act of surrender or through a process of devotion.

A Creator must take three steps before anything can come into being. First, we must desire to create. Then we must plan our creation from beginning to end. Finally we must direct and control all our powers and abilities toward the execution of our plan.

In the beginning, God the Abstract Absolute, desired to Create. Before the Emanations, the Mind of God thought and planned a Source Sphere immense enough to hold all universes for a Great Day of Manifestation. To plan a universe, metaphysically we postulate a dot, expand it through plane and solid geometry to three-dimensional form and then into four-dimensional expression.

The Emanations are three great waves of Wisdom, Love and Joy or Energy, unceasingly sent from the Source to the ends of the universe and back to the Source. Wisdom is the thinking, planning Mind of God that establishes molds for Creation. Love is God as Substance, nourishing and sustaining all the molds that Mind creates. Joy is the motive Power that activates the plans of Mind and fills the molds with Substance. The Emanations contain God’s Divine Plan of Creation for the universes to grow, mature and be enfolded in a Night of Rest and Assimilation. His Plan of Creation included our forms, made in the perfect image and likeness of God.

God’s first aspect is the Father Principle of Wisdom, the sovereign Mind of God. Mind is a Fundamental Principle, abstract and absolute as Omniscience. The thinking and planning stage of Creation lasts as long as does a Great Day of Manifestation, mystically said to be 49 x 49 x 42 billion years. The Book of Genesis speaks of six days of creation, and we are in the seventh. God had to think and plan time so the universes would unfold properly. He had to plan space to determine how much Universal Substance He would require to fill the postulated universe. Thus, the metaphysical dot expands into a time-space sphere filled with all the Substance required for subsequent manifestation.

Mind planned the governing and controlling body of Principles for supplying the Substance of which God forms all things. How much Substance do we need to fill a mold without causing it to burst? God had to know how to send and retrieve us within a planned time. God made it impossible to lose even one lifespark. He could not guarantee individual identity would return, but the lifesparks would. He had to plan a supply train of Substance from the Source for Creation and a way to cleanse, purify and reuse Substance.

All Primary Laws deal with government and control. Primary Laws are the controlling and governing Power of God in action as Fundamental Principle. Primary Laws regulate all Power acting as Energy and all Substance for physical creation. Primary Laws are Laws of Being. Among the original series of Primary Laws was the protective mechanism for regulating Energy, turning Energy on and off, the Laws of Expansion and Contraction. God must regulate energy as an active phase of potential Power. Thus, to be able to turn heat on and off is protective.

This regulating Principle works in our life, too. When we experience the highest form of bliss, then misuse soul substance, Oversoul withdraws, and we "wonder where God went." Why? Because we could not endure the Power. Its high rate of vibration would burst the atoms of our physical heart. Misuse is due to inner conflict, a contest between subconscious and conscious mind that causes heart trouble. The Power of the Oversoul could burst the heart center of one in conflict.

How is the Power of the Oversoul regulated and controlled? If our body cannot take the full Power of the Oversoul, our Guards "cone" us with a barrier of Light before we go to sleep, which regulates Power for our protection. I AM THAT I AM is the great Principle that descends Light direct from the Source into solid, concrete, relative form. I AM is Oversoul’s name and THAT is from the Source direct. It grows until we become a shaft of Light-Power from the Source itself and become relative I AM, like unto the Source.

Secondary Laws deal with Expression, Doing and Action. They apply to visible, material things and living souls. Secondary Laws are concrete and relative. Relative means related to the same form. A beginner cannot study abstract philosophy. We modify secondary Laws from absolute, abstract Primary Laws to suit times and states of individual consciousness, intelligence, civilizations, nations or phases of growth. Secondary Laws may not set aside Primary Laws or Fundamental Principles.

The world asks, "Why, why, why should I struggle to make such an effort?" Blind faith is out. Everyone is weary and tired of blundering in the dark. Everyone wants to know! We must understand to be able to help ourselves intelligently. We apply changing processes of Law to lift subsoul taints. We study, grow and become. The world cries, "What am I doing wrong?" What is wrong is their application or non-application of Law, sins of omission and commission, adultery, or diluting a Law. One can so color a modified Law with negative desires, opinions and prejudices that it no longer acts positively, but reacts negatively.

We are applying the purifying process. We study to help ourselves and others. We study and grow under five categories of expression that reveal our relationship to God, psychology, metaphysics, science, philosophy and mysticism.

Psychology describes our relationship to God first and then our relationship with other people. It deals with God’s Mind and Personality in humanity as humanity.

Metaphysics is the study of Universal Substance, which becomes. Substance descends from the Source to become visible. All Universal Substance must be lowered to the fourth dimension to become a miracle. What we desire becomes visible under prayer.

Science is the study of absolute Principle, which recombines Substance under Law to create new and different forms. Since Fundamental Principles and Primary Laws are exact and unmodified, we may measure and prove their physical expression. However, while science may touch fourth dimensional things, it cannot often measure or prove them. For instance, we can cure a bacterial infection with a pill or injection, but many other diseases are psychosomatic and only a change of heart or mind will cure them. Faith is the proof of our miracles.

Philosophy relates to the "love of wisdom" and knowledge. It is the study of abstract Principle, the ultimate, absolute reality behind all things. Philosophy studies God as Principle.

Mysticism describes the Mind of God as Personality, which orders all things and provides Universal Substance as nourishment and sustenance. Principle can think and plan as Wisdom but Personality must order, control and nourish. Personality sends Universal Substance where we need it.

Mysticism involves God as Personality. Philosophy describes God as Principle. Science is the Jacob’s ladder we use to go back and forth between Personality and Principle, between Heaven and earth.

What are Mysteries? God’s Personality contains all Mysteries. All things unknown are Mysteries. Today’s drugs, atom bombs and jet engines were Mysteries at the beginning of this century. We understand them when we reveal their underlying Principles. They began in God’s Mind as mysterious plans, yet they are no longer mysteries when Mind as humanity unfolds them. The whole universe is the unknown becoming known. We unfold Mysteries through scientific exactness in knowing and applying the Laws of God.

We use metaphysics to modify the Primary Law of Substance into secondary Laws and so cause Substance to take form. Thus, metaphysics enable us to lower the rate of vibration of Substance until it expresses as form. We can metaphysically modify all Primary Laws into secondary Laws that we may then apply to every day, practical living. Knowledge of metaphysics gives us the background beyond physical science that enables us to take God as Being and make this abstract Fundamental Principle real to students.

Psychology describes the Mind and Personality of God expressing as man, and is the line of demarcation between Mind and Personality. Psychology is the science of dividing the soul into understandable parts and phases for analysis. We use it to aid us in understanding both God and man, for functioning on earth. We apply psychology to cleanse personality. We are dual beings, combining the Principles of the Father of Wisdom and the Mother of Love. We must be the Father and Mother within ourselves. All seven mystery schools teach this.

We must understand ourselves to help ourselves. Jesus’ philosophy was "heal thyself." Socrates called this "know thyself." We cannot know or heal ourselves until we understand ourselves, so memorize these five categories of expression. How can I help myself if I do not know these things? Helping myself is working out my salvation. Nevertheless, we cannot work out our salvation unless we know our relationship to God. God did not create hate. We exercised our self-will and inverted His Substance into hate and the darkness known as the "void."

Academic psychology relates to absolute, abstract Primary Laws to discover man’s relationship to God, the universal Source. Practical psychology deals with the concrete, relative secondary Laws that govern Substance becoming visible. We use it to study man’s relationship to man and man’s inner relationship with himself for coordination of soul and self.

We may understand ourselves in this trinity: God, man, myself. We function on three levels: subsoul and subconscious mind, egoic soul and conscious mind, and Oversoul and superconscious mind. Soul uses mind as its tool of expression. Subsoul uses the subconscious to rebuild and protect the physical body. Egoic soul uses the conscious mind through the mental faculties of logic, reason, discrimination, discretion and discernment. Oversoul functions from the Source and uses superconscious mind to maintain our adoration before the Throne of God. The most important function is a perfect relationship between the Oversoul and superconscious mind. We work under three unmodified Fundamental Principles, Equilibrium, Harmony and Balance, to apply secondary Laws. If we do not work under these three great Principles while using practical psychology, they remain unmodified, unavailable for our use.

	EQUILIBRIUM

HARMONY		BALANCE

Equilibrium is the "state of equal balance among all parts of a complex unity." Harmony is the "combination or adaptation of parts, elements or related things, to form a consistent orderly whole, agreement, accord and congruity." Balance means "stability or steadiness due to the equilibrium prevailing among all forces of a situation, to bring or to maintain in equilibrium." High Balance under the Emanations, then, is maintaining Harmony and Equilibrium. These Principles coordinate mind, imagination and emotions as perfect "knowing," which is a blend of "seeing" and "hearing." Imagination is the most unruly faculty, and emotion is the only unruly phase. We cannot "see" or "hear" from above without this coordination of nerves and muscles. "Knowing" forms a Rod of Power from the inner to the outer and coordinates nerves and muscles with the higher faculties of "seeing" and "hearing." Functioning Power is simply a coordination of mind, imagination, emotions, seeing, hearing, nerves and muscles. Power is usable by us now as kinetic energy, which is Power doing the "greater works." We cannot have perfect health without this overall coordination.

The Law of words is accuracy. "Obey the Law and live." Use words as creative tools in harmony with the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit and we should not tempt Him with inaccurate words. Accuracy is the keynote of harmony. Therefore, for more beautiful speech, seek greater accuracy in words. When we begin to slip with sharp words, anger or resentment, we upset our coordination with harmony. The Law says "agree with God and adjust to man." Oversoul always agrees with God. We adjust subsoul and egoic soul to agree with our Oversoul, or we lose equilibrium, a vibration that originates in the harmony of being on the right chord of life. Finally, we lose outer balance. Balance is standing firm and steady, not wobbling around weak-kneed.

The Fundamental Creative Principles are Light, Color, Tone, Number and the Word (Name) of Form. We inhale seven breaths as One through the crown chakra with each physical breath we draw. The four lower breaths of faith are the Substance of all that is. The three higher Breaths of Power include:

Harmony as Color and Love

Equilibrium as Tone and Wisdom

Balance as Number and Energy

Faith, to draw these three high breaths in, must be conscious as the Holy Ghost in action. If we lack coordination as Equilibrium under these Principles, we are out of Harmony, our body Form goes off Balance and illness results. After coordinating perfectly one may think, "Can I do it again?" Doubt enters, he descends beneath his skull in consciousness and closes the crown to the three higher breaths. The whole process of helping ourselves is learning to let go of conflict and let God, as all the Power, do the work. We have perfection when we have touched this unified coordination. How do we hit the high point of coordination to reach our goals? By becoming an extension of God, by doing all we are doing without thinking, without trying. Our mind becomes an extension of the Mind of God. The whole process is spiritual. I never descend from my high place. I become absorbed in Light. We must be the Mind, Substance and Power of God doing the work for which He created us.

We must know ourselves to help ourselves. Conscious mind coasts along well satisfied until it learns of the subconscious and its vast storehouse of memory. From the moment conscious mind accepts responsibility, makes a stand and declares complete cleansing of the subconscious, subsoul poses a constant series of choices between self and God, between acceptance and repudiation of Law. Conscious mind may accept the subconscious and declare: "I am good! I am perfect! I am going up!" Egoic soul, using conscious mind, always declares a challenge to our old spiritual debts. So they arise to be met, tests come and we usually fall on our face.

Then the subconscious offers excuses: "This isn’t me. It’s just the past, my subconscious. Why does God let this happen to me when I have prayed so hard?" Subsoul presides as intellectual self-will at the solar plexus. It uses the pons of the medulla oblongata to "see" and "hear" through the "third eye" at the brow center. As we lift subsoul, we ascend. The faculty of will uses the pineal gland as its seat of action under ascension. This happens before we cleanse taints, which is dangerous because our tests are not finished. Subconscious mind uses the "third eye" and subsoul taints what we see and hear unless we lift self will completely. We "see" clearly and open the memory records when subsoul completely ascends. Subsoul drops from the pineal into the pons of the medulla oblongata under self will, causes headaches and affects the eyes. Blaming is escaping responsibility that forms a blurry film, the "grease" and "dirt" of a thousand years over the eyes. Pain around the eyes means subsoul is unhappy because it sees signs of sinking again. We must keep lifting taints so we do not "slide down the greased pole" on tests.

A good treatment for helping yourself is to yank your subsoul back up. Stand straight, extend your arms as high as you can and say, "Father, move in and possess me." Reach out, scoop all soul substance you misused as blame and declare, "Father, let this be lifted, ascended and purified." Do this for others, too. If you descend, do it all again and say, "Father, let this be cleansed forever. Use me, Father, heart, mind, soul and body in thy service." Power enters as fast as the heart center can take it. Guardian Angels must monitor the heart centers of all who are low in consciousness. Spiritually stated, physical health is the rhythmic acceleration of the atomic vibration in physical cells, perfectly coordinated with Power in Love and Law in Harmony.

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