The Greatest Works of Joseph Benner. Joseph Benner

      Chapter 17

      Finding Me

       Table of Contents

      You, who have studied carefully all that has been said herein, and who think you have gotten a glimpse of Me, but yet are not sure, come close, and listen with your Soul to what I now have to say.

      Be still! - and KNOW, - I AM, - GOD. If you have learned to "Be Still," if you have studied and meditated upon this "I" as God within you, if you are able to distinguish It from the personal I, and are conscious at times of being able to step outside, as it were, of your personality and view your human self as it is, see all its petty faults and weaknesses, its base selfishness, its animal appetites and passions, its childish desires and foolish pride and vanities;

      If you can do all this and have seen these things with clear vision, know that at those moments you have been One with Me in consciousness, that it was your Real Self, I within you, permitting you thus to see with My Eyes the Reality of things.

      At those moments you were freed from your personality and were dwelling in My Consciousness, call it Cosmic, Universal, Spiritual or Impersonal Consciousness, as you will; for you could not have seen these things in your self except through Impersonal eyes, My Eyes. Again, if you will look back you will recall many times when you felt strongly impelled to do certain things, some of which you did, with perfect results; others of which you argued against, your intellect reasoning you into different action, and often with failure, disappointment or suffering as a result.

      This impelling consciousness was only your Real Self, I within you, at such moments guiding you, distinctly telling you what to do. At those moments you were hearing with your Spiritual ears, My Ears, and when you Impersonally obeyed, success and satisfaction followed, but when you personally thought you knew better, discomfiture, regret and unhappiness resulted. Again, there have been moments when you have felt approaching events, or the nearness of unseen persons, or inharmonious vibrations when contacting others. This is only the real You feeling with your Spiritual or Impersonal Body, whose consciousness, did you but know it, is ever on the alert to protect and warn and advise you regarding all outer things, conditions and events.

      The best and surest way you may know Me is when Selfless Love fills your heart, and there is a strong, compelling urge to help some one, to heal their ills, to relieve their suffering, to bring them happiness, to point out the True Way, that is the actual feel of Me within you, pushing the personality aside, using your mind and body for the purpose I created them, as avenues for the expression of My Real Nature, which is Perfect Love, the Christ of God, the one, vitalizing, quickening, life-giving, strengthening, healing, all supplying, all-informing Power in the Universe.

      All this is pointed out to you in order to impress upon you that it is I, in your Spiritual body, the Perfect Body within, where I dwell, Who AM always thus talking to you, advising you, teaching you, warning and helping you, in all the affairs of life, yes, in every little detail.

      If you will but turn to Me, and will carefully watch for and study these impressions which you are receiving every moment, and will learn to trust them, and thus to wait upon and rest in Me, putting all your faith in Me, verily I will guide you in all your ways; I will solve for you all your problems, make easy all your work, and you will be led among green pastures, beside the still waters of life.

      Ah, My child, if you will spend but one-tenth of the time and energy you have wasted in seeking without among the husks of human knowledge and human teachings, in earnest, determined efforts directed within to find Me;

      If you will devote but one hour each day thus to Me alone, imagining and practicing the Presence of Me within you;

      I here promise you that you will not only soon, very soon find Me, but I will be to you an exhaustless fount of such Wisdom and Strength and Help, as your human mind now cannot possibly conceive.

      Yes, if you will but seek Me thus, making Me FIRST in your life, never resting until you do find Me, it will not be long before you will become conscious of My Presence, of My Loving Voice, speaking constantly from out of the depths of your heart.

      You will learn to come to Me in Sweet Communion, and you will find yourself abiding in My consciousness, and that My Word is abiding in you, and that whatever you desire will in seemingly miraculous ways be done unto you.

      This abiding continually in Me may be difficult at first, for the World, the Flesh and the Devil are still presenting evidence to your consciousness. But you will become accustomed to the use of My Impersonal Eyes, and will soon be able to see into the Reality of things, even into the Reality of these seeming Lords of the Earth. Then you will find you are dwelling in a wondrous new World, peopled with Angelic Beings, using the Flesh bodies of Their human personalities merely as vehicles, or instruments, or clothing, in which to contact the earthly conditions and experiences They have created, in order to develop the Soul qualities necessary for the perfect expression on earth of My Idea.

      To your eyes then there will be no shadows, no evil, and consequently no Devil; for all is Light and Love, Freedom, Happiness and Peace, and you will see Me in all, in each Being some attribute of Me, in each animate thing some phase of Me; and you will need only to let My Love shine from out your heart and It will illumine for you the Real meaning of all that you see.

      Then the great Realization will come that you have found the Kingdom of God, that you are walking in It, that It is right here on this earth, that It is manifesting all around you, that you have been living in It all the time, but you did not know it;

      That instead of being without in some far off place, It is within your own being, within every other being, the innermost inner of all manifested things.

      In other words, It will be found to be the REALITY of ALL things, and that all outward seeming is but the shadow of this Reality, created by man's misconceptions and his belief in his separateness from Me.

      When you have found The Kingdom, you will likewise find your place in It, realizing now that you are in truth one of My Divine Attributes, that your work was all laid out for you from the beginning, and that all that has gone before has been but a preparation and a fitting of your human personality for that work.

      Your whole Soul will leap with joyful anticipation, that, after all these many years of wandering, you have at last returned to My Home, and can now enter into My Real Life, One in Consciousness with Me and with your other Selves, all working to bring about the final perfect expression on earth of My Divine Idea.

      You, to whom the reading of this has brought memories of previous joys and whose Soul has quickened in response, do not leave these words until you have gotten from them all I have to tell you.

      Be Still! And listen to My inner Voice, and learn of the glories that await if you are able to see with Impersonal Eyes and hear with Impersonal Understanding.

      However, if this reading brings to you your first vision of My Reality within you, setting in motion, by this partial realization of Me and My Kingdom, high vibrations which lift you into a temporary Spiritual ecstasy, and you resolve to try to abide always in this Consciousness of Me, and always to obey Me, do not be discouraged should you fail when immediately thereafter an occasion comes to test the sincerity and strength of your resolve. It is only by your trying and failing and realizing keenly your lack of strength and ability to rest and trust in Me, that I can quicken in you the