How Truth Works

Fundamental in the study of this New Insight In Truth is training the eyes to see properly. You see, there is an inner and an outer side, or dimension, to everything. Jesus refers to them as, “this world,” and “the Kingdom of Heaven.” Heaven is the transcendence of life, not an afterlife. Jesus discovered that Heaven and earth, the Limitless and the limited, are not two different worlds. They are simply two ways of viewing one world. The need is not to try to change the limited condition, but to change your thought about it. Not to set it right, but to see it rightly. And, right seeing is the passport into the world of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus says “is at hand.” [Mark 1:15] So a strong conviction of Truth must be based upon a strong awareness, or consciousness, of God. But, how is this achieved?

Traditionally, religions have emphasized definitions and symbols. But you see, “God Consciousness” is not just having a good definition of God. The ancients used to say, “If you can define God, you do not know God.” God is not a person, but a Process. God Consciousness is more a perspective from which to see things and persons and experiences. In one of the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” [Matt. 5:8] This means, when you are grounded in the realization that you live in, and are the Self-Livingness of, the Allness of God, you see from that awareness—which is to say you see Allness everywhere. This leads to what we call, “The Cosmic Perspective,” an Insight that colors the outlook and the expectation of Wholeness in all things, all persons, all experiences. So, you see, seeing is what this is all about. As the medieval poet, Brother Angelus, said, “That thou seest, man, become too thou must; God, if thou seest God, dust, if thou seest dust.”

Sight is an interesting phenomenon. Things seen fall on the retina of the eye upside down, as in a camera. Through the nerve endings that are sensitive to the light, we get the picture distributed over several separate recording points. And yet, in some way, the picture is transformed into one solid view. What the mind sees is not the solid state of those points, however, but that which its own awareness sees them as being. So, you really see things not as they are, but as you are. What you see depends entirely on the perspective from which you see. The cynic, the skeptic, will often say, “Well, seeing is believing,” but actually, believing is seeing. What you believe, the level of your awareness of life, will determine the window you look out of and will color everything you see. “God, if thou seest God, dust, if you seeth dust.”

Remember, Jesus says, “Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment.” [John 7:24, ASV] Someone might say, “But that’s the way it is! Let’s be realistic!” Somehow, that word “reality” has achieved the connotation of darkness and futility. The implication is, life is “a veil of tears” and anyone who tries to deal with it in a positive way is on an escape from reality. When someone says, “Let’s be realistic,” he usually means, “Let’s be negative.” These “face-up-to-reality people” feel that one who is naturally optimistic is a traitor to the cause of gloom. But you see, reality is more than troubles. On a cloudy day, the sun is shining above the clouds. There must be something more to life than darkness and shadows, even when they are very much present. In other words, the appearance may say one thing, but what you do say?

You may recall the story of the Israelites, trapped before the impassable Red Sea by the onrushing armies of Pharaoh. The people were crying, “All is lost!” But Moses said, “…stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you today.” [Exodus 14:13, ASV] In other words, let’s face reality, let’s look within. The correct insight will lead to the positive outlook, which, in turn, will give rise to the Divine Unfoldment. It’s a great formula: “Insight, Outlook, Unfoldment.”

First of all, look within. Get yourself grounded in the realization of Allness. The Jewish Shema is a good example: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one….” [Deuteronomy 6:4 & Mark 12:29, KJV] This is the “Insight.” This is the realization of Oneness. Get that “Insight,” look out that window, see from that perspective, and suddenly, as you see out of the window, this is the “Outlook.” The “Insight” of your awareness with God and the “Outlook,” looking out from that consciousness, leads to the “Unfoldment” of your good. Now, the Positive Outlook, based on a Creative Insight, becomes an actual Flow of Power. This is the Healing Consciousness.

In Hebrew, the word for “eye” is “ayin,” which literally means “fountain.” So, what you see, the level of consciousness from which you deal with life, actually flows forth as a power to make that seeing a reality. It is a very important awareness. In this awareness, we come to a consciousness of a Divine Flow.

When you look into a mirror, what do you see, a hapless, helpless creature fated for a life of failure and frustration? Well, this reflects the fact that you are projecting an image of yourself. You are seeing from that perspective. Take a cue from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. Step right through the mirror to the other side, from the partial image of things to the Whole of things. And now see yourself, not as fearful, timid, hurt, frustrated, as you seem to be, but see the radiant all-wise, all-loving, all-conquering expression of Spirit, which you potentially are.

We need to prepare ourselves spiritually before we make our rounds of inspection each day to see how things are. Normally, we look in the papers, we look into the faces of co-workers, we look into weather forecasts and market returns, and we react on cue, like a TV studio audience responding to cards that say, “Laugh,” “Applaud,” etc. But you are not intended to be an unthinking reactor. You are an individualization of the Infinite, with the power to be what you want to be, to unfold what you can be. So don’t look into life’s mirrors to find out how you feel or how things are going to be for you. Look through the mirror and get the purity of heart to see from the perspective of Truth. In this consciousness, with this kind of outlook, things and situations and persons in your world will get their daily dose of “Cosmic Praise.”

This is what positive thinking is all about, really, the words that articulate the positive outlook. Positive thinking should not just be saying a lot of happy, optimistic words. It is little more than a form of self-hypnosis, unless your positive thinking expresses an outlook that comes as a result of a Creative Insight.

You hear the word “consciousness” quite often in this study of Truth. Emmett Fox [1886-1951, one of the most influential New Thought teachers of the twentieth century, and author of the classic book, “The Sermon on the Mount”] said, “Life is consciousness.” This simply means that life will always be to you a reflection of the perspective from which you see it. You might imagine a tall silo—like they have at a farm for grain storage—with porthole-shaped windows every few feet from the ground up to the heights. The landscape out before the silo will be the same, but it will appear different from the many levels from which it is viewed. And, yours is always the choice of the level. Remember that sight is a “fountain” that sends forth negative energy from the low level and positive energy from the high level. So, it follows that the cause of anything—anything that comes to us—must at least be, in part, within us.

No disease can enter or take hold of the body, no financial reverse can come into our experience, unless there is something within our mentality that makes it possible…and that something is, essentially, the level at which we have been viewing life. For instance, on the level where the virus is going around and the possibility of contracting the disease, or on the level where the body is always biased on the side of healing and the fearless realization of the Allness of God’s Healing Life. Yours is the choice. You decide from which level to see it, and it becomes real to you in the perspective from which you see it.

But the great thing is: you can change your consciousness. You need not root out mental causes for your illnesses or for other conflicts, for that can lead to a morbid preoccupation with that level of awareness. The need is purely and simply to get yourself onto a higher level. Emerson’s definition of prayer, you recall, is “the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view.” In other words, you can change. Within you is the unborn possibility of Limitless Life, and yours is the privilege of giving birth to it. Yours is the choice to see it from any perspective you want. And, as you see it, that is the degree to which you unfold its potential and release your own Inner Power. As a psychologist friend used to say, “It is never too late to learn new forms of neurosis, or to unlearn old forms.”

You can change your consciousness. You can change your perspective. You can achieve a more Creative Insight, which will lead to a much more Positive Outlook, which will most certainly lead to the more Perfect Unfoldment—“Insight, Outlook, Unfoldment.” This is “How Truth Works.” It is, surely, all quite simple. Of course, it’s not easy. There’s a great deal of discipline involved, and practice…practice…practice.

© Eric Butterworth