SOUL SCIENCE
The Rosicrucian Lectures of Aureolis
Volume 1 of 3

During the early years of the second world war Peter Caddy received a series of thirteen lectures as a correspondence course from his Rosicrucian teacher, Dr George Sullivan (Aureolis). Dr Sullivan was Supreme Magus or chief of the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship (ROCF), then based in Christchurch, near Bournemouth, England.

The lectures contain mystery teachings on man’s role in the universe, the nature of energy or vibrations, and the mastery of self through the science of positive thinking. They became ‘the single most important foundation’ of Peter’s life, influencing the later creation of the Findhorn community. Peter shared the lectures with Eileen Caddy, Dorothy Maclean and other community members, and many of their principles have become engrained in Findhorn practice and folklore.

In 1986 Peter made audio recordings of the lectures, with slightly updated wording and omitting one lecture, for a tape set published in the USA, titled Ancient Wisdom For Today’s World. It is this version that is presented here, with minor subsequent editing for clarity. The use of capital letters in the texts of the Aureolis originals has been retained. The lectures are divided into three articles; 1-4 are below, Volume 2 contains 5-8 and Volume 3 contains 9-12. – Mike Scott

For further information see the article Aureolis And The R.O.C.F.

INTRODUCTION
Peter Caddy

There is a saying: “When the pupil is ready the Master appears”. When I was 18 my Master appeared. Among his teachings was the subject of Mind Power; how to develop and use it. I became a dedicated student of the material and began to direct my life using these principles in every venture I approached, from leading men in the Royal Air Force, to managing a large luxury hotel and the co-founding of the Findhorn Community. As I moved through the years I no longer thought of the principles in their documented form, but buried them in my subconscious – and lived them.

My life has been a series of demonstrations of those principles in action. This study course represents the setting down of them in a clear form. In some ways I’ve brought them up to date so they will guide you in today’s world. You will learn best if you read each lesson many times; at least once a day for two weeks to a month, then move on to the next. By the time you have completed the Course, start over and do this until these ancient principles become a subconscious part of your life.

It gives me great joy to share with you now these principles that were so lovingly given to me, over fifty years ago, by my own Master.

1. MAN AS A SOUL, A SPIRITUAL BEING

Leaving aside all discussion as to what it is that builds the body and leaves it at death – knowing that it is something – let us agree to call it the Soul. We are then ever to remember that in the case of Positive Mind Suggestion and Affirmation we are dealing with the Soul. The Soul builds its body; it constantly expresses itself through the body, causing by this expression a waste of tissues and, in restoring these tissues, it is constantly rebuilding its body.

This it does unconsciously; that is, we are intellectually ignorant of the process or time when this process occurs. The Soul does it instinctively and automatically. The fact that it does it proves that there is intelligence within the Soul which, when it shall be evolved into Conscious intelligence, will enable us not only at all times to keep in good health, but will also enable us to build our bodies in any way we choose.

Dealing with the Soul through this Science, we are discovering and learning how to apply consciously this power which the Soul wields. It must be assumed as a basic principle either that everything that man can manifest lies already within the Soul, or that the Soul is a channel through which the Infinite Power manifests. Either assertion is a sufficient basis for our work.

ALL POWER AND INTELLIGENCE THAT I CAN USE IS ALREADY MINE.

I want you to use this as your basic Affirmation. It is yours, either already in the Soul, or it is yours as a channel through which Infinite Life manifests. Constantly affirm it until it shall become your constant mental attitude. I wish it to be as natural for you to think that all power is within you, as it is natural for you now to breathe or think. You do both unconsciously. Hold this Affirmation of Power until you unconsciously act from it. When you act from this Affirmation, you will grow into the affirmation “I CAN”, whenever you think of anything you desire to do. You will, therefore, drop from your mind all thought of fear, and from your vocabulary the words can’t and if. Anything you desire, you will know is possible to you, and you will speak of it with the same certainty of its coming, as you now speak of the New Year’s coming.

This is the fundamental truth upon which we are to build our science. Remember, as a Soul you are a manifestation of Infinite Power. That Power is open to you in limitless quantity whenever you desire, and as you desire. Faith and trust in yourself are the only requisites in taking these lessons, for as a Soul you are a manifestation of Power; that Power is named Life.

Life is a manifestation of Infinity. You are to hold the thought over yourself that, as Life, you are Infinite; that your power of Life is limitless.

It is not a question of how much you possess, but of how much you can manifest. All persons possess equally, for Infinity is behind each one, but by wrong thought we limit the quantity of Life we manifest.

Perfect health is the normal manifestation of Life. What we call disease or weakness is but the result of some mental condition that impedes the normal flow of life, thus producing abnormal conditions which we call disease. Under the opposite mental conditions of Love, Hope, Joy and Contentment, Life flows into the expression we call Perfect Health.

Here lies the great benefit that will come to you physically from this study of mental or metaphysical Suggestion. You will learn its power and, by practising upon others and by realising the Power of this Positive Suggestion upon them, you will come to realise also the wonderful Power of Self-Suggestion in its effect upon your own health. You will thus learn to keep yourself in those mental conditions which mean perfect health to you. You must constantly affirm that Life is limitless, and hold yourself responsible to yourself that you give it normal action through right Suggestion.

These right Suggestions are Affirmations of Perfect Health and of Peace. “ALL IS GOOD” is the one Suggestion which will bring you into mental conditions of Harmony, and which will reflect health of body. Therefore make your Suggestions under the greater Affirmation “ALL IS GOOD”, and thus leave the channel of life free for a normal, healthful expression.

Life’s first manifestation is an emotion. The only emotion is Love. It is a question each moment of more or less love. The more love, the more Life. What you call dislike, hatred, envy, discontent, are all less than the normal manifestation of Love.

Therefore you are not to curtail this Spirit of Love in you, but you are to love everything by refusing to recognise anything that has heretofore caused you to show less Love. Love whatever you do; learn to love the place you are in, the people you are with and the work that you have to do. Find those things about the persons, places and labour that you can love, and ignore the rest. Make your Affirmation I AM LOVE – and let Love radiate from you. You will thus create an atmosphere in which nothing but Love can come to you.

The next manifestation of Life is thought. Your Love nature – which is your emotional nature – flows instinctively. It is merely power; it is Life flowing undirected. Through Thought you direct this Life-flow. Thought is the power you use in the control of life’s manifestations. By right thinking, or in other words by applying the law of metaphysical Suggestions, you can direct your Life forces through Love to your desire.

You have within your reach the greatest law that man has discovered, the one that means more for your welfare and the welfare of the race, than all the rest he has found. The law is this:

BY SELF-SUGGESTION YOU CAN DIRECT THE LIMITLESS FLOW OF LIFE AND LOVE THROUGH YOURSELF.

Therefore, in learning this law of mind Suggestion, you are learning that which we said was the object of our lesson: SELF-CONTROL.

Practice

Until the next lesson I want you first to watch your speech, and eliminate from it “can’t” and “if”. Next I want you to continue to hold the thought “ALL IS GOOD”, and to write out, say and think the affirmation: I AM POWER.

Upon rising in the morning I want you to stand firmly on your feet and affirm aloud:
I AM POWER. Make this Affirmation frequently during the day, and at bedtime.

Take at least fifteen minutes of quiet by yourself each day when you shall make this Affirmation, I AM POWER. You are to try and think of nothing else during that time. Continue affirming until you become so absorbed in the thought of power that you forget all else. When other thoughts enter your mind, pay no attention to them. Affirm: I AM POWER.

In times of doubt, fear, hesitancy or weakness, it will help you acquire Concentration if you repeat those words aloud. There can be no success either in your own development, or in your power of mind Suggestion to others, unless you have learned the Art of Concentration. Concentration is simply paying attention to a chosen thought, to one thing at a time, and keeping that thought or thing so closely in mind that other thoughts cannot enter in. When you have learned to control yourself in the manner I have indicated, you will have no trouble in directing others.

2. THOUGHT AS THE POWER THE SOUL USES TO CONTROL LIFE

You realise that every emotion manifests through the body in its own peculiar way. You realise that the muscles of the face are changed under the emotions of love, hate, joy, admiration etc. Considering this, you realise that emotion affects the body, and going a little deeper, you notice that fear affects the respiration; that shame affects the circulation, causing blushing; that joy affects the heart, making it beat faster; thus every emotion affects all the functions of the body.

Worry, anxiety and fear affect the digestive organs; therefore to build your body into conditions desired, you must control emotion. Pleasurable emotions are helpful; they improve the body, and give brain conditions for right thinking. Unpleasant emotions disease the body and destroy brain tissue, making clear thinking difficult. If therefore you would control your fate, you are to control your emotions. I hereby give you the secret of health and happiness:

CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS TO YOUR DESIRE. DO NOT REPRESS BUT HAVE CONTROLLED EXPRESSION OF EVERY EMOTION.

Remember that the larger and deeper your emotional nature, the more your power is manifested. The first manifestation of yourself is in emotion, therefore your manhood or womanhood does not consist in prohibition or repression but does consist in controlled expression.

Enjoy life in all possible ways, but be yourself the master by directing and keeping your emotions well in hand. Before you go any further understand this proposition:

YOUR EMOTIONAL NATURE IS YOUR CENTRE OF POWER.

Uncontrolled emotion tears the body down, weakens you in body and mental power, harms you in reputation and destroys your power to be in control.

Anyone who sees you self-controlled, immediately perceives that you also have the ability to control others, and those who see this in you become willing to receive suggestion from you. Therefore, in starting in this Science, it is absolutely necessary that you understand the law of self-control.

Because you are Power it becomes necessary that you control yourself as Power, or uncontrolled Power will destroy you. You have the choice of two courses to follow: one, of directing yourself as Power, or two, letting that power flow by instinct its own way. By directing it, you become your own fate. In the one case you are the master, in the other you are mastered – you are a slave.

By studying your life, yourself as Power, you will come to understand that you control, awaken or subdue your emotions BY YOUR THOUGHT.

Therefore the power you are to use to control your emotions is Thought.

By the use of the affirmation I AM POWER, you are growing into a realisation of yourself as Power. Do not become alarmed or discouraged if at first, under this affirmation of Power, you find yourself growing more quick tempered and more easily moved in your emotional nature, because in the first awakening of power, we do not understand ourselves. You are calling into expression your forces, and it is absolutely necessary that there be Power before we learn to direct it.

Should you find yourself thus manifesting Power instinctively and unconsciously, rejoice in the fact that through the affirmation, you have awakened yourself into expression. Expression will bring you to an understanding of yourself – of your power – and you will soon learn to think that this Power which you ARE, will only manifest in ways that are pleasurable, therefore healthful. Realise then that you are Power.
You may then use the affirmation: I AM SELF CONTROLLED, AND DIRECT THE POWER THAT I AM TO MY DESIRE.

Each Affirmation is a form of thought. Understand Thought as a mode of motion.

I cannot give you a treatise on physics, so if you desire to understand motion more thoroughly, look into any text book or encyclopedia for the present scientific conception of Motion, Force and Vibration. Study the wave theory of light and sound. Until you have done this, until you have some knowledge of these subjects, put aside the lesson at this point.

Now that you have become familiar with these scientific concepts I wish you to consider Thought as a form of motion. This will lead you also to consider Life as a mode of motion. Realise that you live in a universe of force, that you can only affect this external force as you manifest force yourself: that by force manifested through your feet, you move; by force manifested through your hands, you labour. Understand that by thought as force you manifest your infinity. Through your Thought you direct emotion, which is also a form of force. Thinking rightly you direct the Lifeforce into expression.

I consider this the most important fact that man has yet discovered.

BY THINKING YOU DIRECT YOUR LIFE INTO EXPRESSION.

By thinking, you make your life whatever it is, and are thus either consciously or unconsciously your own Creator, your own fate. The difference between the intelligent and the unintelligent man is the difference between you at the beginning of this Science, and what you are when you have acquired the art of Affirmation and Positive Mental Suggestion; the difference between him who unconsciously builds his body in his Thought and bungles it, and he who consciously builds his body as an artist, perfecting it to his desire. You are to learn to be the artist, and by the tool of thought to shape your life through your will, to your desire. Through the tool of Thought therefore learn to think.

Through the practice of hypnotism in the past, we have come to realise that accepted Positive Mental Suggestions determine conduct.

THAT WHICH A MAN BELIEVES TO BE TRUE MOULDS HIS DESTINY.

By the affirmation of Power, you develop Power. When you say to another, “You are Power” or “You can do this or that”, and that person accepts it and says “I can.”, he then manifests Power. This is the lesson you are to make practical. You are to believe in yourself, believe that you can direct yourself as Power, that you can be master; believe that you know what you desire, and can direct your life to that end. Having developed this belief through knowledge as Power, you are to affirm that you DO so control yourself. You are to remember in dealing with others that the same tool of Thought which enables you to control yourself, is that which you use in dealing with others.

Another thing: remember that since thought is a form of force, it radiates from us silently; that this silent force, like the silent force of sunlight, is powerful. Therefore, whenever you suggest to another, the silent force of thought goes with the Positive Mind Suggestion and often this is the most powerful factor in your influence over another and always the most potent over yourself.

Remember that Thought-force, when concentrated and directed to its mark, is all powerful, but remember also that Thought-force, like all other forms of force, can be diffused and can produce little or no result. When gunpowder is ignited in an open pan little or nothing happens; but when it is concentrated in the chamber of a cannon, behind the projectile, it sends that projectile through solid steel. You are to learn to use this Thought-force in like manner. Concentrate it. Send it directly to the mark. The silent force of Thought is more powerful than that of gunpowder.

It is absolutely necessary that you become so familiar with this fact as to act instinctively and unconsciously in this conception: Thought is force, and thus deal with it as practically as the electrician deals with electricity. To act in this manner becomes your constant mental attitude when you make the Affirmation I AM POWER. In making this suggestion you are to think of Power first as love or emotion, directed by thought.

I AM POWER. THAT POWER MANIFESTS IN ME, IS DIRECTED BY MY THOUGHT TO NOTHING BUT GOOD

Through this you will grow into self-possession and self-control.

Practice

Keep up fifteen minutes of concentration each day, and extend the time if possible to half an hour. Let this be a time of concentration to Truth, a time with the Affirmation of concentration: I AM CONTROLLED BY MY THINKING.

AS I THINK, I AM. I THINK ONLY SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS.

I AM SUCCESS, I AM HAPPINESS.

Practice the power of suggestion with others now. Whenever you speak to them, speak with these Affirmations:

I AM GLAD TO SEE YOU WELL. I AM GLAD TO SEE YOU HAPPY.

I AM GLAD TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL.

Pay no attention to anything that contradicts these statements.

3. MAN AND HIS RELATIONSHIP TO THE UNIVERSE

Thought is Force. It is the only Force that man can use, and he uses it to direct all other forms of Force with which he deals. It follows that there is a Reservoir from which man can draw this Force. It is with that Reservoir that we deal in this lesson.

A UNIVERSE

We live in a Universe. There is no di-verse, no multi-verse. ONE is the limit. In that ONE we live and express that which we are. We express, that is: we press out into manifestation in the Universe that which we are in possibility. We do this by feeling and thinking. This is the sum total of Life: to Feel and to Think.

Feeling is primary, and we have it in common with all animal life. Thinking is secondary and belongs alone to man. We act from these. In common with all animal life, we possess the power of putting intelligence into action. Animals act from the intelligence they are, without being able to translate that intelligence into Thought. Man feels, and the intelligence that is awakened by feeling he puts, or may put, into thought. He can tell why he acts. Here we have all the possible categories of Life’s expression. Life manifests first as sensation, second as Ideation, third as Conduct.

The art of Positive Mind Suggestion deals with all these, because it teaches you how to think, so that you may feel what you choose, and that your conduct may be that which you desire. To know how to think, and what to think, and to think it, is to be the Master of Fate. How to think yourself, and how to cause others to think that which you wish, is to reach the possible limit of the control of Life’s expression. This is the Art of Positive Mind Suggestion. This I will teach you.

With Life all is possible to us; without Life nothing is possible. Therefore, you are to consider that Life is Force, and as far as you are concerned is the first, last and only Force. It is with life as Force that we are learning how to deal.

The Reservoir of Life is Infinite. From that Infinite Reservoir you can draw all you can possibly use. This is one of the most important thoughts I have to give you in all these lessons.

You are to Think, Affirm and Act from this thought:

LIFE IS INFINITE, AND I HAVE ALL I DESIRE. I AM.

In this Affirmation you are to let Life flow into expression. You are to love and think (feel and think, if this expression serves you better), to be Thought and Emotion; Emotion first and then Thought. The more you feel, the more you live. The thinker is a person of deep emotion; but the deep feeler is not necessarily a thinker. Were this so, the lover, the mourner, the sufferer would be thinkers; whereas they think little but feel much.

How to convert emotion into thought is the lesson you are to learn.

You are to feel deeply; to transmute it into conduct – LIVING. You are to LIVE self-controlled. That is your destiny, your desire. When you enter into the thought that Life is infinite, you will cease to suggest to yourself any limitation. You will never say “cannot” in regard to any desired line of activity. You will affirm: I AM LIFE AND I CAN DO ANYTHING I DESIRE.

Realising that feeling (emotion) is the primal manifestation of life, you will seek to know what causes you to feel, what causes emotion in you. Soon will it dawn upon you that your feelings are all primarily caused by something outside yourself. You feel because something awakens a sensation in you. You realise that you can think of that sensation and repeat it. All of your feelings arise first from without and are repeated by memory, by your thoughts. A pain caused by an unkind word can, long after it has passed away, be recalled by thinking of it; so can a pleasure. When you learn not to think of unpleasant things that have happened to you, they will not pain you.

When are you to forget them ? A year after ? A month after ? An hour after ? It is my purpose to teach you to forget immediately. You are not to let them have a place in your memory. You are to control your thoughts, are not to think even for an instant of anything unpleasant. You can do it.

Soon you will have your hypnotic subject; you will tell him to forget that he is with you, to think that he is in the park driving an automobile. He will forget and will drive; he will forget, at will, everything in his surroundings. If he can, so can you. Remember this: ALL THAT OTHERS CAN DO, YOU CAN DO.

The Art confers this benefit upon yourself. It teaches you the power of Mind over body – the power of your mind over your body. The subject forgets at will: do the same yourself. Take no thought of anything unpleasant. Suggest to yourself that which you desire, and as you can restore any past mental state by memory, so you can do by Affirmation.

I CREATE EVERY MENTAL CONDITION, AND THAT CONDITION REFLECTS IN MY ENVIRONMENT. THEREFORE, I CREATE MY LIFE. I CREATE IT AS I THINK IT. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS TO WATCH MY MENTAL STATE AND ALLOW NOTHING THAT I DO NOT WISH TO REALISE IN MY OBJECTIVE LIFE.

Soon you will touch our subject with a cane and burn him. It is possible to blister him with a cold iron. What has this for you but to enforce the truth that the picture you hold in your mind, in memory or in imagination, reflects upon your body. If you hold the thought of cold, fever, rheumatism, accident, poverty, all these manifest, as does the blister on the subject simply because you create the thought forms.

Once these forms are in the mind, they are the moulds into which Life shapes itself. You make the moulds by thinking. No more wonderful fact has ever been stated than
this:

WE CREATE THE FORMS THROUGH WHICH LIFE MANIFESTS. WE CAN MAKE THOSE FORMS TO OUR DESIRE.

You create the form of your objective life, just as the mechanic conceives first the form of the machine in mind, then builds it, or as the artist sees the angel in the stone before he touches it with his chisel.

I am here to teach you what to think and how to think. The rule is this:

THINK NOTHING THAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE REAL IN THE OBJECTIVE LIFE.

You do not wish failure, then do not think it. You do not wish pain or accident or grief, then do not think them. Banish from your mind all thought of evil.

Think what you desire and think of it as a fact NOW. Thought, Love and Life are all there is for you. Primarily you are Life. Life manifests as Love and Truth (Thought). You call as much of these as you desire into expression. That which is within you is Life, is that which you press out into the objective according to your desire.

If that which you desire were not in you, then it could never be manifest. It is, therefore the most important word for you is “NOW”. No success for you while you look either backwards or forwards. Look at yourself here and now. Concentrate upon this present possession. Let all your Positive Mind Suggestions be formed for you to possess during any portion of eternity. Use of this “ALL” as much as you desire NOW. Realising that you control the objective manifestations (the outward life) by your thoughts (which are to you auto-suggestions), let all your thoughts centre upon what you are. This is the power of the affirmation “I AM”. When we say “I shall be” or “was,” we have no power now. But when we say “I AM,” we centre ALL POWER within ourselves and are, in manifestation, that which we are in thought.

Your relation to the Universe is that of a channel for it to find expression. You are necessary to it. YOU and IT are ONE, but you are the ONE. Without you the Universe would lose that form of expression you are. You would lose nothing, for you as an individual then were not. Respect yourself as an indispensable manifestation of an Indivisible and Inseparable Universe. Accustom yourself to think of yourself, and find power under the thought.

Practice

Continue the exercise of the previous lessons. Add the Affirmation “I AM”. Use this at morning upon rising, at night upon retiring, and often during the day.

Stand firmly on your feet, shoulders thrown back. Think: I AM. Then to help you think, you can close fists, press them upon the breast and, as you pronounce the words
I AM, throw out your hands.

This will help you to think positively. Do not put your mind upon your body but upon the thought – and let the thought control the body. When you feel the power you will find your shoulders still more drawn back, your feet more firmly on the floor and your voice more deep and powerful.

Will the thought into the body. Thought is power; it will fill the body and direct the conduct.

In your daily conduct, no matter what comes up, instead of the old habit of retreating, of fear or doubt and hesitancy, say: I AM ABLE TO MEET THIS. I AM ABLE TO DO THIS. I AM ABLE TO IGNORE THIS. I AM.

4. MAN’S RELATION TO HIS FELLOWS

Having briefly studied Man’s relationship to the Universe, it is our duty to study his relation to his fellow men. Jesus gave the two conditions attention when He boiled down the Hebrew law into two commandments: “Love God; Love thy fellow men.” This was His recognition of ancient authority, but to this He added the New Commandment: “Love thy neighbour as thyself,” and said also that to do as one would be done by was all the law and the prophets.

You are to live in the world, are to be continually amid the suggestions of others, and are to be continually suggesting to others. It is therefore necessary that your relations to others be thoroughly plain before you learn your power.

You possess within the Soul the possibility of all knowledge. What you are, all men are. You can obtain nothing from them; you can give them nothing. What is the object of the incarnation in the flesh, of this Soul that you are ? This possibility that you are is daily manifesting. Each day you are living more in the conscious objective life. You are more aware of what you really are here to unfold.

Here is the one thought you are constantly to hold over yourself: I recommend that you write or have printed this Affirmation and put it in your private room, where you can see it upon retiring and upon arising: I AM AN UNFOLDING SOUL. To constantly remember this is to open the way to a more complete manifestation of power each day. It is a constant Positive Mind Suggestion that you are able to do anything that you desire to do; that all you have to do is to believe in your power, and let that power manifest.

Your duty to others lies in manifesting yourself the best way you can. All your duty lies in being true to the Ideal. When you do this, you have done all. You have learned Freedom is a necessity of the Soul’s unfoldment. You cannot grow under the limitation of authority. You must learn to trust yourself, to rely upon yourself, to be self-controlled. Liberty is the condition of growth; consequently it is the secret of health, happiness and success.

The Soul knows itself; the Soul knows what is best. You can trust it, for it is God incarnate in the flesh. The conscience and reason are the dual voices of the Soul, one saying, “Do right”, the other telling what is right. You can trust these.

Emerson says: “Trust the current that knows its way.” It is the current of Divine Life in you. If it knows its way in you, it knows its way in all your fellow men. To trust yourself is to trust the Soul, to trust the Truth in others; it is to mind your own business, and your business is to unfold. Can you do this when you are telling someone else what to do ? Would you allow another to tell you what to do, to take the place of your conscience and reason ? Then let the Soul of another alone. Attend to your business of unfoldment, then MIND your business. Mind it. Put your mind on it.

How ? By proper Positive Mind Suggestion to yourself. Trust the current that knows its way. Its way is happiness through growth. You have, in your reason, power to decide how this current, that knows its way, shall flow. Direct it by proper self-suggestion. When you tell it yourself that you expect disease, it will give you disease, for this objective life is the manifestation of that current in the way that you have selected. Trust it to care for the baby now, as it cared for it before birth and through babyhood. Then you will find that it does know its way. Trust the Soul by telling it what you wish and letting it bring you to it, or it to you, in its own good time or way.

This brings us to the rule: TRUST TRUTH. All there is for you in conscious manifestation of your life is Truth. It is Life manifest in consciousness. This you can use; this will use you, if you trust it. There is nothing but Truth. Life is more or less Truth; error is the absence of Truth. All men use Truth. Life is Light or absence of Light; that condition of consciousness, thought or feeling.

NEVER FIGHT. NEVER CONTEND. NEVER CONTRADICT. NEVER OPPOSE. Let Truth, Good, Life, God do all the work. These are all One, and that One will attend to the filling up of all the conditions of want, supplying the empty places when you will let it. The letting comes in the affirmation: ALL IS GOOD.

When you so affirm, you cannot contend, cannot antagonise, for the Good is what you desire, what you wish for, and what you expect. To affirm is to bring.

To affirm ALL IS GOOD, where you saw evil, is to fill that absence-condition with Truth, with Good. This is the common sense in the words of Jesus, when He said, “Resist not evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Don’t resist, but fill, bring to bear upon, exercise, BE that which is the ALL of LIFE, Good, and bring it by the only way it can be brought – through thinking and affirming. When you think long enough, it will BE. Where Truth does not manifest, we call it ignorance or error; these conditions are the absence of that which is, and all that is, is Truth. Therefore to trust Truth is to trust the only thing there is to trust. Would you have health, happiness and success ? You must learn to use Truth, and so to love Truth that you will let it use you. Become One with Truth. This you will grow into by the Affirmation: I LOVE TRUTH, and the more important one: I AM TRUTH.

This mental attitude will bring you into right relations with your fellows. All persons are Truth; they each represent more or less Truth, as they represent more or less of Life. When you use Truth, you are one with the Life in them.

This understood, you will understand why I give you this as your first rule of conduct with your fellows. It is the Diamond Rule of Life: NEVER ANTAGONISE. Never antagonise anything. Never antagonise a pain; it makes the muscles rigid and shuts out the nerve fluid, the life, from the nerve channels, and prevents relief. The thought that causes rigidity, the thought that causes antagonism, is born of belief in evil, and is one of fear. Fear creates a condition of rigidity, which often becomes permanent, causing stiff joints, etc.

Never contend for opinion. It shows lack of faith in Truth to care for itself. It is on a par with the little preachers who fear that if they do not advise God what to do He will not be able to run the Universe. “Poor God, with no one to help Him,” says Emerson,

Truth is mighty, and it prevails. All you have to do is to treat it as you do the sunshine – let it shine. “NEVER CONTEND” carries with it this second rule, the rule for your conversation: “NEVER ARGUE.”

This does not prohibit your teaching, your explaining, but it does mean that until a person is ready to listen, until he is ready to accept Truth – no matter whether it comes in line with his opinions – you are not to try a mental club to pound it into him.

First see that a person is ready before you try to teach him. Never argue; it shows lack of proper self respect. You love the Truth and trust it too well to contend for it. It proves that you love Truth well when you do not try to force your opinions on others. This is a proper recognition of the right of every person to think what his reason compels him to think. Never try to break down opposition; never recognise that anyone opposes you. Ignore this condition in anyone, and simply affirm Truth. Let that affirmation work its way as sunlight does, as water does, from mountaintop to sea. Truth will reach the Soul from affirmation; it never will from argument. You will learn later that the only way you can use Positive Mind Suggestion is by preparing your subject for your suggestion. This is a Universal Law of Suggestion; every moment of your dealing with another person you will find this law of benefit.

“Never argue,” means for you peace of mind; it means for you peace with your neighbours. It means you will be a person of influence and power. It means for you success in business and social life.

Practice

For practice after this lesson, watch your conduct and shape it along this line. Each morning as you dress, affirm: ALL IS PEACE. I NEVER CONTEND. I NEVER ARGUE. TRUTH IS MIGHTY, AND I TRUST IT.

When you find yourself wishing that any person would think as you think, affirm: He has the same right as I to manifest Truth, and if he has not so much as I, it is his loss. I will let my Truth shine in my life, so that he will see that I have something he needs; then he will seek it, and he will be ready. I plant only on prepared ground. I will sow thought seeds freely, and they will sprout where there is depth of soil. I will let them spring and grow freely, as I freely sow the seeds. I sow in the fields according to the soil and the conditions they are in.

Remember in all affirmations, you are to use Thought, no matter what the form of language. I give that in which the thought appeals to me; you are to become familiar with the thought and use that. It will soon become unnecessary to use language. Thought is subjective and rules the conscious expression; language belongs only to the objective life, and often serves to obscure thought.

Therefore memorise the thought, and let the thought clothe itself in whatever language is fitting for the time. Use it until you live in it, and find that Affirmation is so a part of your life that you and it are one. Until then you need language. Use My language from this lesson until it, the thought, uses its own. Be not limited to any form of words. The Spirit, and not the letter, is for you.

Remember that you are to overcome all that you have heretofore called evil, by the thought: ALL IS GOOD. Then you will never – in thought, word or act – Antagonise. Try it.