FROM THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS
By Ernest Holmes
No One Gives to Us by Ourselves
"And he fain would have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him."
"How true this is; no one can give unto us but ourselves and no one can rob us but ourselves. "There are no gods to say us nay, for we are the life we live." In our greatest extremity, in the moment of great need and dire distress, who can help or serve us? All of our troubles come from an isolated sense of being; we alone can return to the "Father's House."
The question might be asked, "Where was God and why did He not come to the rescue of His beloved son? Did He not care - was He heedless about His son's welfare? Why did God allow such a thing to happen? There is only one answer to all questions of this nature; God is always God, and man can always do as he pleases. He would not be an individual unless this were possible. The Father is never conscious of incompletion. The Father's House is always open, the latch string ever hanging out, the door always ajar, but man must enter, if he wishes to abide within.
Harmony can never become discord. The truth can never produce a lie. God can never be less than God. Could God enter into a field of strife, then He would not be God. God cannot enter the pig pen. We cannot contract the Infinite, but we can expand the finite. "As no man gave unto him." It is always thus.
The Great Awakening
"And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger!"
"And when he came to himself." This is the great awakening the moment in which we now live; in this moment we are asking this question of ourselves! Is there not plenty in the universe? Why do we want? In this divine awakening, there seems to be an inner witness who remembers that we came from a heavenly state. There seems to be an answer from that great within which says the Father's House is filled with peace, power and plenty. The Universe is not limited. It is abundant, lavish, extravagant. Nothing can be taken from, nor added to, It. Creation is the play of Life upon Itself.
We know, by intuition, that there is something beyond what we have so far consciously experienced in this world. Poets have sung of it and there are moments, in the lives of all, when the veil seems thin between and we almost enter into the heavenly estate. This is the meaning of coming to one's self. We are still in the awakening state, we have not yet consciously entered the state of perfect wholeness. We know that such a state is a reality, and that we shall yet attain this reality. Nothing can dislodge this inner and intuitive perception from our mentality; we know it as certainly as we know that we live. This is God in us knowing Himself. We are awakening to the realization that the Universe is perfect and complete. It gives. It is love. It is good and wills only good to all alike.
Self-Condemnation
The prodigal said, "I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants."
This represents a theological state of mind which is quite common to all of us; one of self-condemnation and personal distrust; it is morbid and detrimental to our welfare; a theological state of introspective morbidity, which might be classed as one of our worst mental diseases. Self-condemnation is always destructive and should never be indulged in by anyone, it is always a mistake. There is no question but that all of us have done that which is not for the best. From this viewpoint, all have been sinners, because all have fallen short of the Divine Calling. If we have sinned, it is because we have been ignorant of our true nature and because experience was necessary to bring us to ourselves."
By Ernest Holmes
No One Gives to Us by Ourselves
"And he fain would have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him."
"How true this is; no one can give unto us but ourselves and no one can rob us but ourselves. "There are no gods to say us nay, for we are the life we live." In our greatest extremity, in the moment of great need and dire distress, who can help or serve us? All of our troubles come from an isolated sense of being; we alone can return to the "Father's House."
The question might be asked, "Where was God and why did He not come to the rescue of His beloved son? Did He not care - was He heedless about His son's welfare? Why did God allow such a thing to happen? There is only one answer to all questions of this nature; God is always God, and man can always do as he pleases. He would not be an individual unless this were possible. The Father is never conscious of incompletion. The Father's House is always open, the latch string ever hanging out, the door always ajar, but man must enter, if he wishes to abide within.
Harmony can never become discord. The truth can never produce a lie. God can never be less than God. Could God enter into a field of strife, then He would not be God. God cannot enter the pig pen. We cannot contract the Infinite, but we can expand the finite. "As no man gave unto him." It is always thus.
The Great Awakening
"And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger!"
"And when he came to himself." This is the great awakening the moment in which we now live; in this moment we are asking this question of ourselves! Is there not plenty in the universe? Why do we want? In this divine awakening, there seems to be an inner witness who remembers that we came from a heavenly state. There seems to be an answer from that great within which says the Father's House is filled with peace, power and plenty. The Universe is not limited. It is abundant, lavish, extravagant. Nothing can be taken from, nor added to, It. Creation is the play of Life upon Itself.
We know, by intuition, that there is something beyond what we have so far consciously experienced in this world. Poets have sung of it and there are moments, in the lives of all, when the veil seems thin between and we almost enter into the heavenly estate. This is the meaning of coming to one's self. We are still in the awakening state, we have not yet consciously entered the state of perfect wholeness. We know that such a state is a reality, and that we shall yet attain this reality. Nothing can dislodge this inner and intuitive perception from our mentality; we know it as certainly as we know that we live. This is God in us knowing Himself. We are awakening to the realization that the Universe is perfect and complete. It gives. It is love. It is good and wills only good to all alike.
Self-Condemnation
The prodigal said, "I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants."
This represents a theological state of mind which is quite common to all of us; one of self-condemnation and personal distrust; it is morbid and detrimental to our welfare; a theological state of introspective morbidity, which might be classed as one of our worst mental diseases. Self-condemnation is always destructive and should never be indulged in by anyone, it is always a mistake. There is no question but that all of us have done that which is not for the best. From this viewpoint, all have been sinners, because all have fallen short of the Divine Calling. If we have sinned, it is because we have been ignorant of our true nature and because experience was necessary to bring us to ourselves."
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