Lessons In Truth - Lesson 8 - Annotation 10
What is the law of growth? Can we receive understanding of the whole Spirit of God at once?
10. The law of growth is the law of expansion; it is the law of life itself giving expression to the inherent and dynamic urge for fulfillment of the divine plan or pattern for man and all creation.
The word growth traces its meaning back to an old Scandinavian word meaning green, indicating that growth is action toward maturity. It has to do with development, increase, expansion. Growth requires the use of or exercise of certain principles necessary to bring about development. A seed may lie dormant, but once put into an environment that makes possible the exercise of the life principle within it, we find growth beginning. As the word of Truth (seed) germinates and develops within our soul, our capabilities increase, and we find our world enlarged in scope. The remark was made in Lessons in Truth Lesson 6 Annotation 5 that "Use is the law of increase." This is confirmed on page 81 of Charles Fillmore's book, Prosperity 81, for we read:
"There is a universal law of increase. It is not confined to bank accounts but operates on every plane of manifestation, The conscious co-operation of man is necessary to the fullest results in the working of this law. You must use your talent, whatever it may be, in order to increase it."
Our primary objective in these lessons is to promote spiritual growth, which is the expression of the God ideas that form our spiritual heritage. Spiritual growth is the growth in our own consciousness, our thinking and feeling, into conscious unity with God through recognition of ourselves as His sons and heirs. We must increase our mental and emotional capacity in order to receive spiritual understanding.
"From center to circumference is the method of growth throughout the universe" (Atom-Smashing Power of Mind 134).
Because growth is a law of life, we cannot receive the understanding of the whole Spirit of God at once, Jesus was well aware that it had to be an orderly process, for He said,
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" (John 16:12).
There are many good things in life that are not given to babes until they develop to a point when they are ready for them. So it is with our spiritual growth. We need to "grow up" mentally and emotionally through spiritual education before we are able to bear all that the Spirit would reveal to us. The "growing up" requires the releasing of old beliefs by denial, and the acceptance of new truths through affirmations.
As we progress in spiritual study we realize that understanding comes through a step-by-step unfoldment in the individual consciousness. We have to build the "mental equivalent" in our mind before any manifestation can come forth. "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given" (Matt. 13:13). To do this, we speak words of health and vitality for our body; we speak words of love and harmony for our human relationships; we speak words of success and prosperity for our financial affairs. If to our limited stage of comprehension results seem slow in manifesting, we are able to rise above discouragement by using the spiritual understanding already revealed, for "The Lord shall give thee understanding in all things" (II Tim. 2:7). Our text points out on page 87 that,
"Spiritual understanding . . . comes to us more or less quickly in proportion as we use the light that we already have."
Again and again in our seeking consciously to know and understand God as the only presence and power, we may feel that we have reached a point when we are immersed in the whole Spirit of God, At each point of unfoldment we do receive an increase in our spiritual consciousness but this increase does not include the "full baptism of 'the Holy Spirit'" (Emilie Cady Lessons In Truth 8:36), no matter how much we may have desired it. The search for spiritual understanding is a continual quest, and we know that as we work at building a spiritual consciousness right here and now, we are on the way to its attainment. Spiritual understanding brings with it health, strength, wisdom, and power. It invigorates and uplifts our every thought, feeling, and purpose, for it is the light of Christ living in us and sustaining us at all times.
Why must I seek forever for a sign
Instead of looking for the light within?
It is not in the skies the light will shine
But in myself God's glimmer will begin
And grow. If I would find Him let me seek
Not vainly for strange visions, but in me.
I shall not hear His voice unless I speak
Kind words; I shall not see Him till I see
Him in the small, unnoticed, everyday
Good deeds of a good life; I shall not find
My miracle in any other way
Save by the transformation of my mind.
-- From the book Be! by
James Dillet Freeman.
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Preceding Entry: Can one do too much "spiritual seeking"?
Following Entry: For whom does our soul long? Can full satisfaction be found in outer things alone? Explain.
