OUR
INTEREST in this law of Truth is especially opportune at
this time when, to many earnest students, there seems to
be so much in the world to be met, which apparently
cannot be met unless some resistance is set up. Sin and
sickness seem to have multiplied despite all the efforts
made to counteract them. Resistance as a means of
securing peace and harmony is a mistaken and misleading
idea. True harmony cannot come from in harmony, nor
peace from discord. Resistance fails because it is not
in accord with harmony and order, which is the Law.
The Master's doctrine,
that ye resist not evil, seems a paradox to some of us.
It seems contrary to the natural reactions of a body,
for when we meet with opposition it seems natural to
steel our energies, collect our wits, and use whatever
means we have to outwit and break down the opposition.
Yet, as contrary as it may seem in one sense, when it
pertains to the more serious things in life, we are
unconsciously using the Law in the trivial and material
things. There are so many other names' given to this Law
that we may not recognize it always as the primal Law of
Non-Resistance.
For
example, in our business world we hear about the
psychology of salesmanship, service, credit, free
deliveries, expert advisers and every other aid
conceivable that will help us find the right pots and
pans for the kitchen, the proper style and color of a
crib for the nursery, the chair for the fireplace, and
the accessories that are so necessary to show off the
living room effectively. In fact, there is one business
house that advertises, WE HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN,
so no matter what you need you can find it there. This
is good business, you say, and the department heads know
business is good as long as they use this law. TOP
Why do
you suppose they keep the doors wide open in the stores
where you shop? Certainly it is not to let fresh air in.
It is to let prosperity come in to them without even
having to swing open the doors. Have you ever noticed
the number of people who walk through an open door in
comparison to the number who open a door? Have you ever
wondered why stores like the "5 and 10" or the "25 cents
to dollar" stores prefer to use the basement instead of
a second floor? It is easier for people to walk down
stairs than to climb up. Of course, they eventually walk
up the steps when they come out, but it is the first
thought of the people that directs them to go down. You
will note that this psychology is used freely in any
large business. They often employ men and women to study
ways and means to interest and attract customers. They
study the Law of Non-Resistance and the simple ways it
can be used upon the public.
A salesman will
study the ways and means of selling an article. He will
approach a customer and present his product in a careful
manner. He will bring out comparison with other similar
products, he will praise his product and show all of its
good points, trying all the while to avert any objection
or argument in the customer's mind. In this manner he
builds up a positive sales talk and leads his customer
to a positive acceptance. He will get the customer to
say "yes" to so many things that before the customer is
aware of his action, he is signing a check or a
contract. The whole of salesmanship is built on the Law
of Non-Resistance. Successful business houses everywhere
are using it. Department stores are the outgrowth of its
use. When our grandparents went shopping with their
baskets, there were many shops visited before they
finished. Today we can use the phone and order our list
of supplies, very likely from one store. Mail order
houses are dependent upon this method. It is in this way
that they make is easy for prosperity to come to them.
TOP
Business houses do
not employ the only salesmen, for everyone is a salesman
of some kind. Whether we realize it or not, we are ever
selling ourselves to our friends for approval or
disapproval. We are ever striving to put forth our best
self, and inwardly want our friends to see us in that
light. A young man wishing to meet that certain young
lady will try every means to gain an introduction. Then
he will put his best foot forward, act his best, make
the most pleasing impression. Why all this extra effort
you ask. Because he wants to make it easy for the fair
lady to like him and wish to know him better. He is
trying to sell her the idea that he is her best choice
for a companion and friend. He may be unconsciously
using the Law of Non-Resistance as far as he knows.
Why does this
young man put forth his best side? Oh, you say, that is
only natural, it is a habit or a custom. That is true,
yet we become so governed by habit and custom that there
are times when we, in working for prosperity and good
health, unconsciously put opposition in our path through
this force of habit.
There are
some who may be working to gain success and to bring
forth an increase of supply or material wealth and yet
have gotten into the habit of talking and fearing hard
times. We may talk about our neighbor or criticize the
method he used to get ahead. We may fear business
conditions and when we see the graph take a downward
swing we fear for our investments and our job. When we
do these things we are very foolish. In fact, as foolish
as a merchant who advertised extensively that on a
certain day he would inaugurate the biggest sale of the
year. After getting his patrons all keyed up for the
bargains promised, he barred the doors and closed
everyone out. For such an act the patrons thought he
must have gone crazy or else he did not want any
business to come to him. TOP
Well,
call him what you will, but some people are just as
crazy at times when they want supply and prosperity to
come to them and then bar the way with their
conversations of poverty and discord. I don't say they
are crazy, but I know they haven't learned how to think
right; nor are they wise to the Law when they choke off
their influx of good with negative chatter. One student
wrote me and said, "I am working hard over limitation,
for I have had enough of it. My answer to her was,
"Cease working over limitation and work only for
prosperity." The Law does not require us to work over or
against the things we do NOT want but it does require us
to work with and for that which we do want. We dare not
give our time, thought and energy to that which is
opposed to what we want. That is setting up a resistance
contrary to the Law and barring the way for our good to
come in. How, then, shall we work for prosperity? By
being non-resistant and in agreement with all that is
prosperous and using every means at our command to make
it easy for prosperity to come in. TOP
Water is very powerful, yet it is a perfect
nonresistant element. We can see where it has worn away
the hardest rock. We have seen it sweep everything
before its torrential outburst. Bridges, buildings,
trees, nothing can withstand its force. Yet, note how
the great river begins. It starts with a small stream or
brook high up in the mountains where the ice and snow
feed it in the springtime. Note also that it is a very
crooked little stream, nothing like the great river it
finally flows into. You see the little stream of water
run into a huge boulder, a fallen tree, or debris made
up of bushes, decayed leaves, and the like. Does the
little stream stop with the obstacle and wait for its
force to build up so that it can push the opposition
from its path? No, the little stream is not interested
so much in the boulder or tree as it is in hurrying
along and reaching a larger stream, a river, and then
the mighty ocean. It does not waste any time with the
obstacle, but quietly works its way around the
interference and hurries on. It is urged to meet a river
and then to be a part of the mighty ocean. Thus, we see
that little stream wind its way round and round many
crooks and turns, but every turn takesit nearer
its goal.
Some people,
unwise to Nature's method, set up a different one. When
they meet an obstacle they stop their progress to
collect their forces and put up a fight to remove it.
This resistance they set up causes friction. Friction
causes an irritation and an inflammation. For this
reason many people's lives are hard and exacting. The
waste of human energy is appalling. People in every walk
of life are breaking down and wearing out like obsolete
machinery. Remember, it is not the movement of a machine
that wears it beyond use and service, it is FRICTION.
Friction is opposition and resistance.
If we go
through life, fighting, opposing, resisting, arguing, we
are bound to meet with many obstacles and likely become
so occupied fighting them that we lose sight of our real
objective. If we are always getting steeled for the next
opposition or trouble we can expect plenty of it.
Whereas if we strive to make little of the obstacle and
keep our minds on the objective or the desire we set out
to gain, we may have to wind around and around, but if
we persevere we will ultimately win. We will reach the
goal.
Another
lesson we may learn from the stream is that when it is
small and struggling it has the most difficult time. In
the beginning it will have so many obstacles across its
path that it is ever winding around to avoid direct
opposition. Silently it use's the Law to be
non-resistant and it grows stronger in force and volume.
When it becomes a larger stream and then a river its
path is more direct and the obstacles become less and
less. Then it is not far from the mighty ocean
Students are like
that. They have their hardest tests and delays while
they are yet weak in power and understanding. As they
strike out on a new path in Truth, the obstacles and
tests will be plentiful. The wise ones will not fight
the obstacles, but bless them and go on. As they go on
with faith and assurance, they grow stronger and become
like a great stream and river. Their course becomes more
direct, their understanding is of greater depth and the
mighty ocean, their ultimate objective, is not far from
them. TOP
A woman recently
asked for help to meet her problem. She explained that
her home was mortgaged and it was near time for her to
make a payment, but the funds were lacking. She had
converted her home into a rooming house, hoping to get
money enough to live on, but there was the difficulty.
She could not keep her roomers because they were so
quarrelsome and critical. The house was always in an
uproar, no one was content, and she was ill in mind from
the strain and anxiety.
It was
explained that she must use the Law. She must not oppose
the good, but strive to work with it. With all the
friction and confusion in the home, she must go back and
use the Law of NON-resistance. This she tried to do, but
whereas she had been so exacting and unkind, she found
it rather hard to be non-resistant. That evening as she
entered the dining room, she greeted her people with a
smile. The folks were so startled at the sudden change
that they could hardly eat for wondering. That smile was
the first smile some had ever seen from her, and others
declared it was the first time in months that they
remembered. One man was heard to utter when she had gone
to the kitchen to fix the dessert, "The old lady is
going soft." And more thought so later that evening when
they heard her greet one young man who had gotten back
in his rent and who was trying to slip up to his room
without being seen. She greeted him pleasantly and said
she was sorry he had missed his dinner.
After a
few weeks of this new plan the woman began to enjoy it.
She had become changed within herself. She saw her folks
in a different light. Instead of thinking them to be
cheats, liars, and a quarrelsome lot, she saw good in
them and she grew to like them more and more as one big
family. They, too, became different. The family
gathering at the table was looked forward to as a happy
time and had grown to its capacity. Others had asked to
have a room if and when a vacancy occurred. Even the
young man who had tried to dodge her because of his
arrearage had entered into the spirit of the new home
and was able to get a job and paid up in full. Needless
to say, the payments on the mortgage were met and the
home was saved for the widow. She did as she was
instructed. She became non-resistant to the good. She
made light of the many obstacles and confusion that
appeared, and slowly worked around them. She held in
mind her objective. This in turn melted down the
hardness within herself and then reached others. Though
she appeared to be going soft to some, in doing so she
reached her goal and was victorious.
In another verse
Jesus expressed the Law more simply; He said: "I
say unto you, love your enemies; bless them that curse
you; do good to them that hate you; pray for them that
despite-fully use you." In studying this statement one
might at first think the Master was favoring the
enemies, the opponents. Not at all; Jesus was speaking
to all who desire to use the Law. To extend a loving
thought to anyone or anything removes the opposition and
enmity that once seemed there. This removal must first
be in the person a consciousness. Once the thought of
enmity is removed from your consciousness you will not
attract the same condition again. Do good to them that
hate you because in doing good you are raised above the
thought of hate and hate then cannot touch your life.
Bless them that curse you and pray for them that misuse
you. Why Blessing calls forth the highest good within
you. The highest good within you can only attract the
highest good from another. To attract such good you are
running around all opposition and abuse. Thus to live
the Law with others about you does not especially favor
the others so much as it favors you. It affects others
in that it takes away from them their weapons of hate,
malice, revenge and the like, and their love and
interest will be reciprocal with yours. TOP
If a man resists a
situation, he will have it always with him. If he tries
to run away from it, like a shadow it follows him, and
repeatedly he will meet it again. If he ignores the
hardness of the condition and fearlessly works around
it, he will find a time when that hard condition will
have been absorbed and removed. Accept the condition as
some evidence of good. Look for that good, and by being
acceptable to it more and more evidence of it appears.
"Agree
with thy adversary" is another way of saying that
nothing worth while and lasting is ever gained by
argument. He who is convinced against his will is of the
same opinion still. To disagree with one only causes
that one to put on his full armor, to collect all his
forces in opposition to yours. To agree with your worthy
opponent leaves him defenseless and without need of his
armament. To offer no resistance makes it easy for one
to be amicable, and he who thought himself your enemy
will find it a pleasure and a privilege to be a friend.
"Blessed
are the meek" may seem literally to support those kindly
timid souls who are an easy prey for their more
aggressive brothers. Rather, it refers to the one who is
able to follow the Law of Non-Resistance to the point of
inheriting the earth and all things thereof. To be meek
does not mean to be an easy mark nor to be a door mat
for anyone to walk over. I have heard it said that in
this day one cannot be a real Christian and be easy and
forgiving. In this day one must be on guard to protect
one's rights from being overridden by the stronger and
more abusive. One does not know what is fully required
of a true Christian if he thinks this. We are not asked
to be a martyr for our belief; nor is it unchristian to'
be able to speak out fearlessly and positively.
We need
not be an easy mark nor a door mat for anyone, for there
is a greater power to be reckoned with, the power of the
Law when you use it. Yet this does not make us like a
pugilist, but a master. This does not require us to be
hardboiled and boisterous in order that we may attain
our rights. Our rights when they are righteous will
uphold themselves, they are their own defense. They do
not need us nor anyone to fight their battles. Now the
Law reads that "WE ATTRACT WHAT WE EXPECT," so if one
believes he is an easy mark, a door mat, a weakling, if
he expects to suffer imposition and must resort to
warlike means for his protection, then "They that take
the sword shall perish by the sword." The Law of life
reacts upon man according to his understanding and
application. TOP
To be
meek does not mean that we are submissive to the
conditions of discord and disorder. We are meek only to
the Law. Such meekness gives us the power of Spirit.
Jesus was so strong in Spirit that His spoken word was
like a two edged sword, it beat welts upon the intruder
like a whip lash. Jesus, though a humble man, was no
example of weakness. When He spoke as one with authority
to the Scribes or cleared the Temple of the money
changers, He showed a strength that was a delight to His
disciple's to the extent that they implored Him to be
their king. Do not confuse meekness with weakness.
Nature eliminates weakness, and she should. Weakness
ever creates weakness. This brings on deterioration and
finally death and decay. To live wisely one must be
strong and positive, though righteously meek. Such
strength is not measured in physical brawn and muscle,
but in mind and spirit. No ONE CAN BE TRULY MEEK WHO Is
NOT STRONG AND SPITTED.
Meekness,
then, is that strength appropriated when you do not
argue, when you do not become angry or boastful and
proud, when you do not insist upon having your rights in
a quarrelsome manner. Meekness is the steel of one's
nature. It is enduring. Meekness is the strength by
which you win an argument by refusing to argue. When
differences of opinion arise and your opinion is right,
the real victory lies in the fact that right is right,
regardless of what others may say about it.
In
science we recognize the spirit of meekness as
cooperativeness, persistent application, accurate
computation, perfect harmony, symmetry of design and
color, and so forth. Possibly the simplest illustration
can be seen in our application of the law in Nature. We
exercise the spirit of meekness in accepting the terms
of nature, and the more fully we cooperate or submit to
her, the more abundantly we are blessed. We carefully
select the best seed and plant it in the right place at
the proper time and in the most fertile soil. Careful
are we to water and cultivate the growing plant to
insure a bountiful yield. Why are we so careful, so
particular, so non-resistant to obey nature's law? Is it
because we are weaklings, crave excessive work, and in
general, simpletons because of the utmost care and
attention we are obliged to give? Only he who does not
meet the law with non-resistance is foolish. With
whatever degree the wise one meets the law with
meekness, nonresistance, so will he be benefited. Thus,
as man applies the spirit of meekness to the principles
of his daily life, not to the conditions, so will he be
proportionately blessed. TOP
When
perplexed, remember the little stream of water and how
determined it is to reach the mighty ocean. Be that
determined to reach and realize all the good that is
awaiting you. Why delay its benefits by putting
obstacles into your stream of prosperity? Let us come
over the path of non-resistance. Every worried thought,
every fear, doubt, complaint, argument, and angry
thought are but so many boulders, large and small, that
you cast into your stream. These tend to change your
course and to lengthen the time for your goal to be
reached. Unite your forces for good with the good that
is seeking you. Remove and dissolve every obstacle by
blessing it and being willing to understand it. Mark it
no longer a stumbling block, but a stepping stone,
leading to your highest good.
