If you imagine yourself shaking another person's hand, do not use your 
physical hand, let it remain immobilized. But imagine that housed within 
your hand is a more subtle, more real hand, which can be extracted in 
your imagination. Put your imaginary hand into the imaginary hand of 
your friend who stands before you and feel the handshake. Keep your 
physical body immobilized even though you become mentally active in 
what you are now about to do. Now we will go into the silence. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenLesson IV: No One To Change But Self
May I take just a minute to clarify what was said last night. A lady felt 
from what I said last night that I am anti one nation. I do hope that I am 
not anti any nation, race or belief. If perchance I used a nation, it was 
only to illustrate a point. What I tried to tell you was this – we become what we contemplate. For it
is the nature of love, as it is the nature of hate, to change us into the like -
ness of that which we contemplate. Last night I simply read a news item 
to show you that when we think we can destroy our image by breaking 
the mirror, we are only fooling ourselves. When, through war on revolution, we destroy titles which to us represent 
arrogance and greed, we become in time the embodiment of that which 
we thought we had destroyed. So today the people who thought they de -
stroyed the tyrants are themselves that which they thought they had de -
stroyed. That I may not be misunderstood, let me again lay the foundation of this 
principle. Consciousness is the one and only reality. We are incapable of 
seeing other than the contents of our own consciousness. Therefore, hate betrays us in the hour of victory and condemns us to be 
that which we condemn. All conquest results in an exchange of character -
istics, so that conquerors become like the conquered foe. We hate others 
for the evil which is in ourselves. Races, nations, and religious groups 
have lived for centuries in intimate hostility, and it is the nature of hatred,
as it is the nature of love, to change us into the likeness of that which we 
contemplate. Nations act toward other nations as their own citizens act toward each 
other. When slavery exists in a state and that nation attacks another it is 
with intent to enslave. When there is a fierce economic competition be -
tween citizen and citizen, then in war with another nation the object of 
the war is to destroy the trade of the enemy. Wars of domination are 
brought about by the will of those who within a state are dominant over 
the fortunes of the rest. We radiate the world that surrounds us by the intensity of our imagination
and feeling. But in this third-dimensional world of ours time beats slowly. And so we do not always observe the relationship of the visible world to 
our inner nature. Now that is really what I meant. I thought I had said it. That I may not be
misunderstood, that is my principle. You and I can contemplate an ideal, 
and become it by falling in love with it. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenOn the other hand we can contemplate something we heartily dislike and 
by condemning it we will become it. But because of the slowness of time 
in this three-dimensional world, when we do become what we contem -
plated we have forgotten that formerly we set out to worship or destroy 
it. Tonight's lesson is the capstone of the Bible, so do give me your atten -
tion. The most important question asked in the Bible will be found in the 
16th chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew. As you know, all of the Bible stories are your stories; its characters live 
only in the mind of man. They have no reference at all to any person, who
lived in time and space, or to any event that ever occurred upon earth. *****
The drama related in Matthew takes place in this manner. Jesus turns to 
his disciples and asks them, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man 
am?” (Matt 16:13). “And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and
others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?”
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou are the Christ, the Son of the 
living God.”
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jon -
ah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it until thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven.”
“And I say also unto thee that thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will 
build my church.” (Matt 16:14-18). Jesus turning to his disciples is man turning to his disciplined mind in self-
contemplation. You ask yourself the question, “Whom do men say that I 
am?” In our language, “I wonder what men think of me?”
You answer, “Some say John come again, some say Elias, others say 
Jeremiah, and still others a prophet of old come again.”
It is very flattering to be told that you are, or that you resemble, the 
great men of the past, but enlightened reason is not enslaved by public 
opinion. It is only concerned with the truth so it asks itself another ques -
tion, “But whom say ye that I am?” In other words, “Who am I?”
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenIf I am bold enough to assume that I am Christ Jesus, the answer will 
come back, “Thou are Christ Jesus.”
When I can assume it and feel it and boldly live it, I will say to myself, 
“Flesh and blood could not have told me this. But my Father which is in 
Heaven revealed it unto me.” Then I make this concept of self the rock on
which I establish my church, my world. “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24). Because consciousness is the only reality I must assume that I am al -
ready that which I desire to be. If I do not believe that I am already what 
I want to be, then I remain as I am and die in this limitation. Man is always looking for some prop on which to lean. He is always look -
ing for some excuse to justify his failure. This revelation gives man no ex -
cuse for failure. His concept of himself is the cause of all the circum -
stances of his life. All changes must first come from within himself; and if 
he does not change on the outside it is because he has not changed with -
in. But man does not like to feel that he is solely responsible for the con -
ditions of his life. “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more 
with him.”
“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?”
“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?” Thou has 
the words of eternal life.” (John 6:66-68). I may not like what I have just heard, that I must turn to my own con -
sciousness as to the only reality, the only foundation on which all phe -
nomena can be explained. It was easier living when I could blame anoth -
er. It was much easier living when I could blame society for my ills, or 
point a finger across the sea, and blame another nation. It was easier liv -
ing when I could blame the weather for the way I feel. But to tell me that 
I am the cause of all that happens to me that I am forever molding my 
world in harmony with my inner nature, that is more than man is willing 
to accept. If this is true, to whom would I go? If these are the words of 
eternal life, I must return to them, even though they seem so difficult to 
digest. When man fully understands this, he knows that public opinion does not 
matter, for men only tell him who he is. The behavior of men constantly 
tell me who I have conceived myself to be. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenIf I accept this challenge and begin to live by it, I finally reach the point 
that is called the great prayer of the Bible. It is related in the 17th chapter 
of the Gospel of St John. “I have finished the work which thou gavest me 
to do. (John 17:4). “And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I 
had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5). “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that 
thou gavest me I have kept, and one of them is lost, but the son of perdi -
tion.” (John 17:12). It is impossible for anything to be lost. In this divine economy nothing can
be lost, it cannot even pass away. The little flower which has bloomed 
once, blooms forever. It is invisible to you here with your limited focus, 
but blooms forever in the larger dimension of your being, and tomorrow 
you will encounter it. All that thou gavest me I have kept in thy name, and none have I lost 
save the son of perdition. The son of perdition means simply the belief in 
loss. Son is a concept, an idea. Perdido is loss. I have only truly lost the 
concept of loss, for nothing can be lost. I can descend from the sphere where the thing itself now lives, and as I 
descend in consciousness to a lower level within myself it passes from my
world. I say, “I have lost my health. I have lost my wealth. I have lost my
standing in the community. I have lost faith. I have lost a thousand 
things.” But the things in themselves, having once been real in my world, 
can never cease to be. They never become unreal with the passage of 
time. I, by my descent in consciousness to a lower level, cause these things to 
disappear from my sight and I say, “They have gone; they are finished as 
far as my world goes.” All I need do is to ascend to the level where they 
are eternal, and they once more objectify themselves and appear as reali -
ties within my world. The crux of the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel of St John is found in the
19th verse. “And for their sake I sanctify myself, that they also might be 
sanctified through the truth.” 
Heretofore I thought I could change others through effort. Now I know I 
cannot change another unless I first change myself. To change another 
within my world I must first change my concept of that other; and to do it
best I change my concept of self. For it was the concept I held of self that 
made me see others as I did. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenHad I a noble, dignified concept of myself, I never could have seen the 
unlovely in others. Instead of trying to change others through argument and force, let me 
but ascend in consciousness to a higher level and I will automatically 
change others by changing myself. “There is no one to change but self; 
that self is simply your awareness, your consciousness and the world in 
which it lives is determined by the concept you hold of self. It is to con -
sciousness that we must turn as to the only reality. For there is no clear 
conception of the origin of phenomena except that consciousness is all 
and all is consciousness. You need no helper to bring you what you seek. Do not for one second 
believe that I am advocating escape from reality when I ask you to simply
assume you are now the man or the lady that you want to be. If you and I could feel what it would be like were we now that which we 
want to be, and live in this mental atmosphere as though it were real, 
then, in a way we do not know, our assumption would harden into fact. This is all we need do in order to ascend to the level where our assump -
tion is already an objective, concrete reality. I need change no man, I sanctify myself and in so doing I sanctify others. To the pure all things are pure. “There is nothing unclean of itself: but to 
him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” (Rom 
14:14). There is nothing in itself unclean, but you, by your concept of self,
see things either clean or unclean. “I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30). “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.”
“But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may 
know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” (John 10:37, 
38). He made himself one with God and thought it not strange or robbery to 
do the works of God. You always bear fruit in harmony with what you are. It is the most natural thing in the world for a pear tree to bear pears, an 
apple tree to bear apples, and for man to mold the circumstances of his 
life in harmony with his inner nature. “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” (John 15:5). A branch has no life 
save it be rooted in the vine. All I need do to change the fruit is to change
the vine. You have no life in my world save that I am conscious of you. You are 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenrooted in me and, like fruit, you bear witness of the vine that I am. There 
is no reality in the world other than your consciousness. Although you 
may now seem to be what you do not want to be, all you need do to 
change it, and to prove the change by circumstances in your world, is to 
quietly assume that you are that which you now want to be, and in a way 
you do not know you will become it. There is no other way to change this world. “I am the way.” My I Amness, 
my consciousness is the way by which I change my world. As I change my
concept of self, I change my world. When men and women help or hinder 
us, they only play the part that we, by our concept of self, wrote for 
them, and they play it automatically. They must play the parts they are 
playing because we are what we are. You will change the world only when you become the embodiment of that 
which you want the world to be. You have but one gift in this world that is
truly yours to give and that is yourself. Unless you yourself are that which
you want the world to be, you will never see it in this world. “Except ye 
believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24). Do you know that no two in this room live in the same world? We are go -
ing home to different worlds tonight. We close our doors on entirely differ -
ent worlds. We rise tomorrow and go to work, where we meet each other 
and meet others, but we live in different mental worlds, different physical 
worlds. I can only give what I am, I have no other gift to give. If I want the world
to be perfect, and who does not, I have failed only because I did not know
that I could never see it perfect until I myself become perfect. If I am not 
perfect I cannot see perfection, bu the day that I become it, I beautify my
world because I see it through my own eyes. “Unto the pure all things are
pure.” (Titus 1:15). No two here can tell me that you have heard the same message any one 
night. The one thing that you must do is hear what I say through that 
which you are. It must be filtered through your prejudices, your supersti -
tions, and your concept of self. Whatever you are, it must come through 
that, and be colored by what you are. If you are disturbed you would like me to be something other than what I 
appear to be, then you must be that which you want me to be. We must 
become the thing that we want others to be or we will never see them be 
it. Your consciousness, my consciousness, is the only true foundation in the 
world. This is that which is called Peter in the Bible, not a man, this faith -
fulness that cannot turn to anyone, that cannot be flattered when you are 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Haventold by men you are John come again. That is very flattering to be told 
you are John the Baptist come again, or the great prophet Elias, or 
Jeremiah. Then I deafen my ears to this very flattering little bit of news men would 
give me and I ask myself, “But honestly who am I?”
If I can deny the limitations of my birth, my environment, and the belief 
that I am but an extension of my family tree, and feel within myself that I
am Christ, and sustain this assumption until it takes a central place and 
forms the habitual center of my energy, I will do the works attributed to 
Jesus. Without thought or effort I will mold a world in harmony with that 
perfection which I have assumed and feel springing within me. When I open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, give joy 
for mourning and beauty for ashes, then and only then, have I truly es -
tablished this vine deep within. That is what I would automatically do 
were I truly conscious of being Christ. It is said of this presence, He 
proved that He was Christ by His works. Our ordinary alterations of consciousness, as we pass from one state to 
another, are not transformations, because each of them is so rapidly suc -
ceeded by another in the reverse direction; but whenever our assumption 
grows so stable as to definitely expel its rivals, then that central habitual 
concept defines our character and is a true transformation. Jesus, or enlightened reason, saw nothing unclean in the woman taken in 
adultery. He said to her, “Hath no man condemned thee?” (John 8:10). “She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn 
thee; go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11). No matter what is brought before the presence of beauty, it sees only 
beauty. Jesus was so completely identified with the lovely that He was in -
capable of seeing the unlovely. When you and I really become conscious of being Christ, we too will 
straighten the arms of the withered, and resurrect the dead hopes of 
men. We will do all the things that we could not do when we felt ourselves
limited by our family tree. It is a bold step and should not be taken lightly,
because to do it is to die. John, the man of three dimensions is beheaded,
or loses his three-dimensional focus that Jesus, the fourth-dimensional 
self may live. Any enlargement of our concept of self involves a somewhat painful part -
ing with strongly rooted hereditary conceptions. The ligaments are strong 
that hold us in the womb of conventional limitations. All that you formerly
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenbelieved, you no longer believe. You know now that there is no power out -
side of your own consciousness. Therefore you cannot turn to anyone out -
side of self. You have no ears for the suggestion that something else has power in it. You know the only reality is God, and God is your own consciousness. There is no other God. Therefore on this rock you build the everlasting 
church and boldly assume you are this Divine Being, self-begotten be -
cause you dared to appropriate that which was not given to you in your 
cradle, a concept of self not formed in your mother's womb, a concept of 
self conceived outside of the offices of man. The story is beautifully told us in the Bible using the two sons of Abra -
ham: one blessed, Isaac, born outside of the offices of man and the other,
Ishmael, born in bondage. Sarah was much too old to beget a child, so her husband Abraham went 
in unto the bond servant Hagar, the pilgrim, and she conceived of the old 
man and bore him a son called Ishmael. Ishmael's hand was against ev -
ery man and every man's hand against him. Every child born of woman is born into bondage, born into all that his en -
vironment represents, regardless of whether it be the throne of England, 
the White House, or any great place in the world. Every child born of 
woman is personified as this Ishmael, the child of Hagar. But asleep in every child is the blessed Isaac, who is born outside of the 
offices of man, and is born through faith alone. This second child has not 
earthly father. He is self-begotten. What is the second birth? I find myself man, I cannot go back into my 
mother's womb, and yet I must be born a second time. “Except a man be 
born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). I quietly appropriate that which no man can give me, no woman can give 
me. I dare to assume that I am God. This must be of faith, this must be 
of promise. Then I become the blessed, I become Isaac. As I begin to do the  things that only this presence could  do, I know  that I 
am born out of the  limitations of Ishmael, and  I have  become  heir to 
the kingdom. Ishmael could  not  inherit anything, although his father  was 
Abraham, or God. Ishmael did  not have  both parents of the  godly; his 
mother  was Hagar the  bondwoman, and  so he  could  not partake of his fa -
ther's estate. You are Abraham and  Sarah, and  contained  within your own conscious -
ness there  is one   waiting  for recognition. In the  Old Testament it is called
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenIsaac, and  in the  New Testament  it is called  Jesus, and  it is born without 
the aid of man. No man can tell you  that you  are Christ Jesus, no man 
can tell you  and convince you  that  you are God. You  must toy with 
the idea and  wonder  what it would  be like to be God. No clear conception of the  origin of phenomena  is possible  except that 
consciousness is all   and all is consciousness. Nothing  can 
be evolved  from man that was not potentially   involved  in his na -
ture. The ideal we  serve  and hope to attain could  never  be evolved  from  
us were  it not potentially involved  in our nature. Let me  now retell and  emphasize an experience of mine  printed  by 
me two years ago  under  the title, "The Search". I think  it will help  you to 
understand  this law  of consciousness, and  show you that you  have no 
one to change  but self, for you  are incapable  of seeing  other  than the  con-
tents of your own consciousness. Once in an idle  interval at sea, I meditated  on "the  perfect state," and 
wondered  what I would  be were I of too pure  eyes to behold  iniquity, if to 
me all things were  pure and were I without condemnation. As I became 
lost in this fiery brooding, I found  myself lifted  above  the dark environ -
ment of the  senses. So intense  was the feeling,  I felt myself a  being  of 
fire dwelling  in a body of air. Voices, as from a  heavenly chorus, with 
the exaltation of those  who had  been conquerors in a  conflict with death, 
were singing, "He  is risen He is risen," and  intuitively I knew  they meant 
me. Then I seemed  to be walking  in the  night. I soon came  upon a  scene  that 
might have  been the ancient Pool of Bethesda  for in this place  lay a great 
multitude  of impotent folk  - blind, halt, withered  waiting  not for the  mov-
ing of the  water  as of tradition, but waiting  for me. As I came  near, without thought or effort on my part, they were  one after 
the other, molded  as by the  Magician of the  Beautiful. Eyes, hands, feet  
all missing  members  were drawn from some  invisible  reservoir and  mold-
ed in harmony with that perfection   which I felt springing  within me. When all were  made perfect the  chorus exulted, "It is finished." I know  this vision was the  result of my intense  meditation upon the  idea 
of perfection, for my meditations invariably bring  about union with the  
state contemplated. I had  been so   completely absorbed  within the  idea 
that for awhile  I had  become  what I contemplated, and  the high purpose 
with which I had  for that moment identified  myself drew  the companion -
ship of high things and  fashioned  the vision in harmony with my inner  na-
ture. The ideal with which we are  united  works by association of ideas to awak -
en a thousand moods to create  a drama  in keeping  with the  central idea. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenMy mystical experiences have  convinced  me that there  is no way to bring 
about the  perfection we seek  other  than by the  transformation of our -
selves. As soon as we  succeed  in transforming  ourselves, the  world  will 
melt magically before  our eyes and  reshape itself in harmony with that 
which our transformation affirms. We fashion the  world  that surrounds us by the  intensity of our imagination
and feeling, and   we illuminate  or darken our lives by the  concepts we 
hold of ourselves. Nothing  is more important to us than our conception of 
ourselves, and  especially is true  of our concept of the  deep, dimensionally
greater  One within us. Those  that help  or hinder  us, whether  they know  it or not, are  the ser-
vants of that law which shapes outward  circumstances in harmony with 
our inner  nature. It is our conception of ourselves which frees or con -
strains us, though it may use  material agencies to achieve  its purpose. Because  life molds the  outer  world  to reflect the  inner arrangement of our
minds, there  is no way of bringing  about the  outer  perfection we seek 
other  than by the  transformation of ourselves. No help  cometh from with -
out: the hills to which we  lift our eyes are  those  of an inner range. It is thus to our own consciousness that we  must turn as to the  only reali -
ty, the  only  foundation on which all phenomena  can be  explained. We can
rely absolutely on the  justice of this law to give  us only that which is of 
the nature  of ourselves. To attempt to change  the world  before  we change  our concept of our -
selves is to struggle against the  nature  of things. There  can be no outer 
change  until there  is first an inner change. As within, so without. I am not advocating  philosophical indifference when I suggest that we 
should  imagine  ourselves as already that which we  want to be,  living  in 
a mental atmosphere  of greatness, rather  than using  physical means and 
arguments to bring  about the  desired  changes. Everything  we do, unaccompanied  by a change  of consciousness, is but 
futile readjustment  of surfaces. However  we toil or struggle,  we can re -
ceive no more  than our concepts of Self affirm. To protest against any -
thing which happens to us is to protest against the  law of our being and 
our ruler  ship over our own destiny. The circumstances of my life  are too closely related  to my conception of 
myself not to  have been formed  by my own spirit from some  dimensional -
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenly larger storehouse  of my  being. If there  is pain to me  in these  happen -
ings, I should  look within myself for the  cause, for I am moved here and 
there  and made to live  in a world  in harmony with my concept of myself. If we would  become  as emotionally aroused  over our ideas as we be -
come  over our dislikes, we would  ascend  to the  plane  of our ideal as easi -
ly as we  now descend  to the  level of our hates. Love and hate have a magical transforming  power, and  we grow through 
their exercise into the  likeness of what we  contemplate. By intensity of 
hatred  we create  in ourselves the  character  we imagine  in our enemies. Qualities die  for want of attention, so the  unlovely states might best 
be rubbed  out by imagining  "'beauty for ashes and  joy for mourning" 
rather  than by direct attacks on the  state from which we  would  be free. "Whatsoever  things are  lovely and  of good  report, think  on these  things," 
for we  become  that with which we are  en rapport. There  is nothing  to change  but our concept of self. As soon as we  suc-
ceed in transforming   self, our world  will dissolve  and reshape itself in 
harmony with that which our change  affirms. I, by descent in consciousness, have  brought about the  imperfection that 
I see. In the divine  economy nothing  is lost. We  cannot lose  anything 
save by descent in consciousness from the  sphere  where  the thing has its 
natural life. And now, O  Father, glorify thou  me with thine  own self with the  glory 
which I had  with thee before  the world  was." John 17:5. As I ascend  in consciousness the  power  and the glory that was mine  re-
turn to me  and I too will say "I have  finished  the work thou gavest me  to 
do." The  work is to return from my descent in consciousness, from the 
level wherein I believed  that I was a  son of man, to the sphere where I 
know  that I am one  with my Father  and my Father  is God. I know  beyond  all doubt that there  is nothing  for man to do but to change
his own concept  of himself to assume  greatness and  sustain this assump -
tion. If we  walk as though we  were already the  ideal we serve, we  will 
rise to the  level of our assumption, and  find a world  in harmony with our 
assumption. We  will not have  to lift a  finger  to make it so, for it is already 
so. It was always so. You and I have  descended  in consciousness to the  level where we now 
find ourselves and we see imperfection because  we have descended! When we  begin to ascend  while here in this three  dimensional world, we 
find that we  move  in an entirely different environment, we have  entirely 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havendifferent circles of friends, and  an entirely different world  while still living 
here. We  know  the great  mystery of the  statement, "I am in the  world  but
not of it." Instead  of changing  things I would  suggest to all to identify themselves 
with the  ideal they  contemplate. What would  the feeling be like were you 
of too pure  eyes to behold  iniquity  if to you  all things were pure and you 
were without condemnation? Contemplate  the ideal state and identify 
yourself with it and  you will ascend  to the  sphere  where  you as Christ   
have your natural life. You are still in that state  where  you were before  the world  was. The  only 
thing that has fallen is your concept of self. You  see the  broken parts 
which really are  not broken. You  are seeing  them through distorted  eyes, 
as though you  were in one  of those  peculiar  amusement gallery's where 
a man walks before  a mirror and  he is elongated, yet he  is the  same man. Or he looks into another  mirror and  he is all big  and fat. These  things 
are seen today because  man is what he  is. Toy with the  idea of perfection. Ask  no man to help  you, but let the prayer
of the  17th chapter  of the  Gospel of St. John be  your prayer. Appropriate 
the state that was yours before  the world  was. Know  the truth of the  statement, "None  have I lost save  the son of perdi -
tion." Nothing  is lost in all my holy mountain. The  only thing  that 
you lose is the  belief in loss or the  son of perdition. "And for their sake I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified 
through the  truth." John 17:19   
There  is no one  to change  but self. All you  need do to make men and 
women holy in this world  is to make yourself holy. You  are incapable  of 
seeing  anything  that is unlovely when you  establish within your own 
mind's eye  the fact that you  are lovely. It is far  better  to know  this than to know  anything  else in the  world. It 
takes courage, boundless courage, because  many this night, after hav -
ing heard  this truth will still be  inclined  to blame  others for their predica -
ment. Man finds it so difficult to turn to himself, to his own consciousness 
as to the  only reality. Listen to these  words:   
"No man can come  to me,  except the  Father  which hath sent me to draw 
him." John 6:44. "I and  my Father  are one." John 10:30. "A man can receive  nothing, except it be  given him from heaven." John 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Haven3:27. "Therefore  doth my Father  love me, because  I lay down my life, that I 
might take it again." "No man taketh it from me,  but I lay it down of myself." John 10:17,18. "You did not choose  me, I have  chosen you." My concept of myself molds 
a world  in harmony with itself and  draws men to tell me  constantly by 
their behavior who I am. The most important thing  in this world  to you  is your concept of self. When you  dislike  your environment, the  circumstances of life  and the be-
havior of men, ask  yourself, " Who   am I?" It is your answer to this ques -
tion that is the  cause  of your dislikes. If you  do not condemn self there  will be  no man in your world  to condemn
you. If you  are living  in the  consciousness of your ideal you  will see noth -
ing to condemn. "To the  pure all things are  pure." Now I would  like to spend  a little time making  as clear as I can what I 
personally do when   I pray, what I do when I want to bring  about changes
in my world. You  will find  it interesting, and  you will find  that it works. No 
one here can tell me  they cannot do it. It is so very simple  all can do it. We are what we  imagine  we are. This technique  is not difficult to follow, but you  must want to do it. You 
cannot approach  it with the  attitude  of mind  "Oh well I'll try it." You  must 
want to do it, because  the mainspring  of action is desire. Desire  is the  mainspring  of all action. Now  what do I want? I must define 
my objective. For example,  suppose  I wanted  now to be elsewhere. This 
very moment I really desire  to be elsewhere. I need  not go through the  
door, I need  not sit down. I need  do nothing  but stand  just where  I am 
and with my eyes closed,  assume  that I am actually standing  where  I de-
sire to be. Then I remain in this state  until it has the  feeling  of reality. Were I now  elsewhere  I could  not see the  world  as I now  see it from here. The world  changes in its relationship  to me  as I change  my position in 
space. So I stand  right here, close  my eyes, and  imagine  I am seeing  what I 
would  see were  I there. I remain in it long  enough to feel it to be  real. I 
cannot touch the  walls of this room from here, but when you  close your 
eyes and  become  still you  can imagine  and feel that  you touch it. You  can 
stand  where  you are and imagine  you are putting  your hand  on that  wall. To prove  you really are, put it there  and slide it up and feel the  wood. You can  imagine  you are doing  it without getting  off your seat. You  can 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havendo it and  you will actually  feel it if you  become  still enough and intense 
enough. I stand  where  I am and  I allow  the world  that I want to see and  to enter 
physically to come before  me as though I were  there  now. In other  words,
I bring  elsewhere  here by assuming that I am there. Is that clear? I let it come  up, I do not make it come  up. I simply imagine 
I am there  and then let it happen. If I want a  physical presence, I imagine  he is standing  here, and  I touch 
him All through   the Bible I find  these  suggestions, "He  placed  his hands 
upon them. He  touched  them." If you  want to comfort someone,  what is the  automatic  feeling? To put 
your hand  on them, you  cannot resist it. You  meet a friend and the hand  
goes out automatically, you  either  shake hands or put your hand  on his 
shoulder. Suppose  you were now to meet a  friend  that you  have not seen for a  year
and he is a  friend  of whom you  are very fond. What would  you do? You 
would  embrace  him, wouldn't you? Or  you would  put your hand  upon him. In your imagination bring  him close  enough to put your hand  upon him 
and feel him to be  solidly real. Restrict the  action to just that. You  will 
be amazed  at what happens. From then on things begin to move. Your di -
mensionally greater  self will inspire, in all, the  ideas and  actions neces -
sary to bring  you into physical contact. It works that way. Every day I put myself into the  drowsy state; it is a  very easy thing  to do. But habit is a strange thing in man's world. It is not law,  but habit acts as 
though it were  the most compelling  law in the  world. We  are creatures of 
habit. If you  create  an interval every day into which you  put yourself into the  
drowsy state, say   at 3 o'clock  in the  afternoon, do you  know  at that mo -
ment every day you  will feel drowsy. You  try it for one  week and see if I 
am not right. You sit down for the  purpose  of creating  a state akin to sleep, as though 
you were sleepy, but do not push the  drowsiness too far, just far  enough 
to relax and  leave  you in control of the  direction of your thoughts. You  try 
it for one  week, and  every day at that hour, no matter  what you  are do-
ing, you  will hardly be  able to keep  your eyes open. If you  know  the hour 
when you  will be  free you  can create  it. I would  not suggest that you  do it
lightly, because  you will feel very, very  sleepy and  you may not want to. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenI have  another  way of praying. In this case  I always sit down and  I 
find the most comfortable  arm chair imaginable,  or I lie  flat on my back 
and relax completely. Make yourself comfortable. You must not be  in any 
position where  the body is distressed. Always put yourself into a  position 
where  you have the greatest ease. That is the  first stage. To know  what you  want is the  start of prayer. Secondly you  construct in 
your mind's eye one  single  little event which implies that you  have real-
ized your desire. I always let my   mind  roam on many things that could 
follow  the answered  prayer  and I single  out one  that is most likely to fol -
low the fulfillment of my desire. One simple  little thing like the shaking  of 
a hand, embracing  a person, the  receiving  of a letter, the  writing  of a 
check, or whatever  would  imply the  fulfillment of your desire. After you have decided  on the  action which implies that your desire  has 
been realized, then  sit in your nice comfortable  chair or lie  flat on your 
back, close  your eyes for the  simple reason it helps to induce this state  
that borders on sleep. The minute  you feel this lovely drowsy state,  or the  feeling  of gathered 
togetherness, wherein you  feel I could  move  if I wanted  to, but I do not 
want to, I could  open my eyes if I wanted  to, but I do not want to. When 
you get that feeling  you can be  quite sure that you are in the  perfect 
state to pray  successfully. In this feeling  it is easy to touch anything  in this world. You  take the  sim-
ple little restricted  action which implies fulfillment of your prayer and you 
feel it or you  enact it. Whatever  it is, you  enter  into the  action as though 
you were an actor in the  part. You  do not sit back and  visualize yourself 
doing  it. You  do it. With the  body immobilized  you imagine  that the  greater  you inside the  
physical body is coming  out of it and  that you  are actually performing 
the proposed  action. If you  are going  to walk, you  imagine  that you are 
walking. Do not see yourself walk, FEEL that   you are walking. If you  are going  to climb stairs, FEEL that you  are climbing  the stairs. Do 
not visualize yourself doing  it, feel yourself doing  it. If you  are going  to 
shake a  man's hand, do not  visualize yourself shaking  his hand, imagine 
your friend  is standing  before  you and shake his hand. But leave  your 
physical hands immobilized  and imagine  that your greater  hand, which is 
your imaginary hand, is actually shaking  his hand. All you  need do is to imagine  that you  are doing  it. You  are stretched  out 
in time, and what you  are doing, which seems to be  a controlled  day 
dream, is an actual act in the greater  dimension of your being. You are 
actually encountering  an event fourth dimensionally before  you encounter
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenit here  in the  three  dimensions of space, and  you do not have  to raise a 
finger  to bring  that state  to pass. My third  way of praying  is simply to feel thankful. If I want something, ei -
ther for myself or another, I immobilize the  physical body, then I produce 
the state akin to sleep  and in that state I  just feel happy, feel thankful. Thankfulness implies realization of what I want. I assume  the feeling  of 
the wish fulfilled  and with my mind  dominated  by this single sensation I 
go to sleep. I need  do nothing  to make it so, because  it is so. My feeling 
of the  wish fulfilled  implies it is done. All these  techniques you  can use  and change  them to fit your tempera -
ment. But I must emphasize the  necessity of inducing  the drowsy state  
where  you can become  attentive without effort. A single  sensation dominates the  mind, if you  pray successfully. What would  I feel like,  now, were  I what I want to be? When I know  what 
the feeling  would  be like I then close  my eyes and  lose myself in that sin -
gle sensation and  my dimensionally greater  Self then builds a  bridge  of 
incident to lead  me from this present moment to the  fulfillment of my 
mood. That is all you  need do. But people  have a habit of slighting  the im-
portance of simple  things. We are creatures of habit and  we are slowly learning  to relinquish our 
previous concepts, but the  things we formerly lived  by still in some  way 
influence our behavior Here  is a  story from the  Bible that illustrates my 
point. It is recorded  that Jesus told  his disciples to go to the  crossroads and  
there  they would  find a colt, a  young  colt not yet ridden by a  man. To 
bring the colt to him and  if any man  ask, "Why do you  take this colt?" say,
"The Lord has need  of it." They went to the  crossroads and  found  the colt and  did exactly as they 
were told. They   brought the  unbridled  ass to Jesus and  He rode it tri-
umphantly into Jerusalem. The story has nothing  to do with a  man riding  on a little colt. You  are Je-
sus of the  story. The  colt is the  mood  you are going  to assume. That is 
the living  animal not yet ridden by  you. What would  the feeling be like 
were you to realize your desire? A new  feeling, like  a young  Colt, is a  very
difficult thing  to ride  unless you  ride him with a  disciplined  mind. If I do 
not remain faithful to the  mood  the young  colt throws me  off. Every time  
you become  conscious that you  are not faithful to this mood, you have  
been thrown from the  colt. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenDiscipline  your mind  that you  may remain faithful to a  high mood and 
ride it triumphantly  into Jerusalem, which is fulfillment, or the  city of 
peace. This story precedes the  feast of the  Passover. If we  would  pass from our 
present state  into that of our ideal, we must assume  that we  are already 
that which we  desire  to be and remain faithful to our assumption, for we 
must keep  a high mood  if we would  walk with the  highest. A fixed  attitude  of mind, a  feeling  that it is done  will make it so. If I walk 
as though it  were, but every once in a  while I look  to see if it really is, 
then I fall off my mood  or colt. If I would  suspend  judgment like  Peter I could  walk on the  water. Peter 
starts walking  on the water, and  then he  begins to look  unto his own un -
derstanding  and he begins to go  down. The  voice said, "Look  up, Peter." Peter looks up  and he rises again and  continues walking  on the  water. Instead  of looking  down to see if this thing  is really going  to harden into 
fact, you  simply  know  that it is already so, sustain that mood  and you will
ride the unbridled  colt into the city of Jerusalem. All of us must learn to 
ride the animal straight into Jerusalem unassisted by a  man. You  do not 
need another  to help  you. The strange  thing is that as we  keep the high mood  and do not fall, oth -
ers cushion the  blows. They spread  the palm leaves before  me to cushion 
my journey. I do not have  to be concerned. The  shocks will be  softened  as
I move  into the  fulfillment of my desire. My  high mood  awakens in others 
the ideas and  actions which tend  towards the  embodiment of my mood. If
you walk faithful to a  high mood  there  will be  no opposition and  no com -
petition. The test of a  teacher, or a  teaching, is to be  found  in the  faithfulness of 
the taught. I am  leaving  here on Sunday night. Do remain faithful to this 
instruction. If you  look for causes outside  the consciousness of man, then 
I have  not convinced  you of the  reality of consciousness. If you  look for excuses for failure  you will always find  them, for you find 
what you  seek. If you  seek an excuse  for failure,  you will find  it in the  
stars,  in the  numbers,  in the  tea cup, or most any place. The excuse  will 
not be  there  but you  will find  it to justify your failure. Successful business and  professional men and  women know  that this law 
works. You  will not find  it in gossip  groups, but you  will find  it in coura -
geous hearts. Man's eternal journey is for one  purpose:  to reveal the  Father. He  comes 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havento make visible  his Father. And  his Father  is made visible  in all the  lovely 
things of this world. All the things that are  lovely, that are  of good  report, 
ride these  things, and  have no time  for the  unlovely in this world, regard -
less of what it is. Remain faithful to the  knowledge of your consciousness, your I AMness, 
your awareness of being  aware  of the  only reality. It is the  rock on which 
all phenomena  can be   explained. There  is no explanation outside  of that. I know  of no clear conception of the  origin of phenomena  save that con -
sciousness is all and  all is consciousness. That which you  seek is already housed  within you. Were  it not now  within 
you eternity  could  not evolve  it. No time  stretch would  be long enough to 
evolve  what is not  potentially involved  in you. You simply let it into being  by assuming  that it is already visible  in your 
world, and   remaining  faithful to your assumption, it will harden into fact. Your Father  has unnumbered  ways of revealing  your assumption. Fix this 
in your mind  and always remember, "An assumption, though false,  if sus -
tained  will harden into fact." You and your Father  are one and your Father  is everything  that was, is 
and will be. Therefore  that which you  seek you already are, it can nev -
er be so far  off as even to be   near, for nearness implies separation. The great Pascal said, "You  never  would  have sought me  had you not al -
ready found  me. "What you  now desire  you already have  and you seek it 
only because  you have already  found  it. You  found  it in the  form of de -
sire. It is just as real in the  form of desire  as it is going  to be to your bod -
ily organs. You are already that which you  seek and you have no one  to change  but 
Self in order  to express it. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenLesson V: Remain Faithful to Your Idea
Tonight we have  the fifth and  last lesson in this course. First I shall give 
you a sort of summary of what has gone  before. Then, since so many of 
you have asked  me to elaborate  further  on Lesson 3, I shall give you a  
few more  ideas on thinking  fourth dimensionally. I know  that when a  man sees a  thing clearly he  can tell it, he  can explain 
it. This past winter  in Barbados a  fisherman, whose  vocabulary would  not 
encompass a  thousand  words, told  me more in five  minutes about the be -
havior of the  dolphin than Shakespeare with his vast vocabulary could 
have told me, if he did not know  the habits of the  dolphin. This fisherman told  me how the dolphin loves to play on a  piece of drift -
wood, and  in order  to catch him, you  throw  the wood  out and  bait him as 
you would  bait children, because  he likes to pretend  he is getting  out of 
the water. As I said, this man's vocabulary was very limited,  but he knew 
his fish, and  he knew  the sea. Because  he knew  his dolphin  he could  tell 
me all about their habits and  how to catch them. When you  say you  know  a thing but you  cannot explain it, I say you  do 
not know  it, for when you  really know  it you  naturally express it. If I should  ask you now to define  prayer, and  say to you, "How  would  you,
through prayer, go about realizing  an objective,  any objective?" If you can
tell me, then you  know   it; but if you  cannot tell me,  then you  do not 
know  it. When you  see it clearly in the  mind's eye  the greater  you will in -
spire the words which are  necessary to clothe  the idea and  express it 
beautifully, and  you will express the  idea far  better  than a  man with a 
vast vocabulary who does not see it as clearly  as you  do. If you  have listened  carefully throughout the  past four days, you know 
now that the  Bible has no reference at all to any persons that ever  exist-
ed, or to any events that ever  occurred  upon earth. The authors of the Bible  were not writing  history, they were writing a  
great drama  of the  mind which they dressed  up in the  garb of history, and
then adapted  it to the  limited  capacity of the  uncritical, unthinking  mass-
es. You know  that every story in the  Bible is your story, that when the writ -
ers introduce dozens of characters in the  same  story they are  trying  to 
present you  with different  attributes of the  mind that you  may employ. You saw it as I took  perhaps a  dozen or more  stories and interpreted 
them for you. For instance, many people  wonder  how Jesus, the  most gracious, the  
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenmost loving  man in the  world, if he  be man, could  say to his mother, what
he is supposed  to have  said to her as recorded  in the  second  chapter  of 
the Gospel of St. John. Jesus is made to say to his mother, "Woman, what
have I to do with thee?" John 2:4. You and I, who are  not yet identified  with the  ideal we  serve, would  not 
make such a  statement to our mother. Yet here  was the  embodiment of 
love saying  to his mother, "Woman, what have  I to do with thee?" You are Jesus, and  your mother  is your own consciousness. For conscious -
ness is the  cause  of all, therefore,  it is the  great father- mother  of all phe -
nomena. You and I are creatures of habit. We  get into the  habit of accepting  as fi-
nal the  evidence of our senses. Wine  is needed  for the  guests and  my 
senses tell me  that there  is no wine, and  I through habit am about to ac -
cept this lack  as final. When I remember  that my consciousness is the one
and only reality, therefore  if I deny the  evidence of my senses and as -
sume the  consciousness of having  sufficient wine,  I have  in a sense  re-
buked  my mother  or the  consciousness which suggested  lack; and  by as -
suming  the consciousness of having  what I desire  for my guests, wine  is 
produced  in a way we  do not know. I have  just read a note here from a  dear friend  of mine  in the  audience. Last Sunday he  had an appointment at a  church for a  wedding; the clock 
told him he  was late, everything  told him he  was late. He was standing  on a street corner  waiting  for a street car. There  was 
none in sight. He   imagined  that, instead  of being  on the  street corner, 
that he  was in the  church. At that  moment a  car stopped  in front of him. My friend  told the driver  of his predicament and  the driver  said to him, "I 
am not going  that way, but I will take you  there." My friend  got into the 
car and was at the  church in  time for the  service. That is applying the law 
correctly, non -acceptance of the  suggestion  of lateness. Never  accept the 
suggestion of lack. In this case  I say to myself, "What have  I to do with thee?" What have  I 
to do with the  evidence of my senses? Bring  me all the  pots and  fill them. In other  words, I assume  that I have  wine and all that I desire. Then my 
dimensionally greater  Self inspires in all, the  thoughts and  the actions 
which aid  the embodiment of my assumption. It is not a  man saying  to a mother, "Woman what have  I to do with thee?" It is every man  who knows this law who will say to himself, when his 
senses suggest lack, "what have  I to do with thee. Get behind  me." I will 
never  again listen to a  voice like  that, because  if I do, then I am impreg -
nated  by that suggestion and  I will bear the  fruit of lack. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenWe turn to another  story in the  Gospel of St. Mark  where  Jesus is hungry. "And seeing  a fig tree afar  off having  leaves, he  came, if haply he  might 
find anything  thereon:  and when he  came  to it, he  found  nothing  but 
leaves; for the  time of figs was not  yet." "And Jesus answered  and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter 
forever. And  his disciples heard  it." Mark  11:13, 14. "And in the  morning, as they passed  by, they saw  the fig tree dried up  
from the  roots." Mark  11:20. What tree am I blasting? Not a  tree on the  outside. It is my own con -
sciousness. "I am the   vine." John 15:1. My consciousness, my I AMness 
is the  great tree, and  habit once more suggests emptiness, it suggests 
barrenness, it suggests four months before  I can feast. But I cannot wait 
four months. I give  myself this powerful suggestion that never  again will I
even for a  moment relieve  that it will take four months to realize my de -
sire. The  belief in  lack must from this day on be  barren and  never  again 
reproduce itself in my mind. It is not a  man blasting  a tree. Everything  in the  Bible takes place  in the  
mind of man:  the  tree, the  city, the  people,  everything. There  is not a 
statement made in the  Bible that does not represent some  attribute  of 
the human mind. They are  all personifications of the  mind and not things 
within the  world. Consciousness is the  one and only reality. There  is no one  to whom we 
can turn after  we discover  that our own awareness is God. For God  is the  
cause  of all and  there  is nothing  but God. You  cannot say that a  devil 
causes some  things and  God others. Listen to these  words. "Thus saith the  Lord to his anointed,  to Cyrus, whose  right hand  I have 
holden, to subdue  nations before  him; and  I will loose  the loins of kings, 
to open before  him the  two leaved gates; and  the gates shall not be 
shut." "I will go before  thee, and  make the  crooked  places straight:  I will 
break  in pieces the gates of brass, and  cut in sunder  the bars of iron." "And I will give  thee the  treasures of darkness, and  hidden riches of se -
cret places, that  thou mayest know  that I, the  Lord, which call thee by thy
name, am the  God of Israel." Isaiah 45:  1, 2, 3. "I form the  light, and  create  darkness:  I make peace, and  create  evil: I 
the Lord do all  these  things." Isaiah 45:7. More Free Books Law of Attraction Haven"I have  made the  earth, and  created  man upon it:  I, even my hands, have
stretched  out the  heavens, and  all their host have  I commanded." "I have  raised  him up  in righteousness, and  I will direct all his ways: he 
shall build  my city, and  he shall let go my captives, not for price nor re -
ward, saith the  Lord of hosts." Isaiah   45:12, 13. "I AM the  Lord, and  there  is none  else, there  is no God  beside  me." Isaiah
45:5. Read these  words carefully. They are  not my words, they are  the in -
spired  words of men  who discovered  that consciousness is the  only reality. If I am hurt, I am self hurt. If there   is darkness in my world, I created 
the darkness and  the gloom and  the depression. If there is light and  joy, I
created  the light and  the joy. There  is no one  but this I AMness that does 
all. You cannot find  a cause  outside  of your own consciousness. Your world  is 
a grand  mirror constantly telling  you who you  are. As you  meet people, 
they tell you  by their behavior who you  are. Your prayers will not be  less devout because  you turn to your own con -
sciousness for help. I do not think  that any person in prayer  feels more  of 
the joy, the  piety, and  the feeling  of adoration, than I do when I feel 
thankful, as I assume  the feeling  of my wish fulfilled, knowing  at 
the same  time it is to myself that I turned. In prayer  you are called  upon to believe  that you  possess what your rea -
son and  your senses deny. When you  pray believe  that you have and you 
shall receive. The  Bible states it this way:   
"Therefore  I say unto you, What things soever  ye desire, when ye  pray, 
believe  that ye receive  them, and  ye shall have  them. "And when ye  stand  praying, forgive,  if ye have ought against any:  that 
your Father  also which is in heaven may forgive  you your trespasses." "But if ye  do not forgive,  neither  will your Father  which is in heaven for -
give your trespasses." Mark  11:24, 25, 26. That is what we must do when we  pray. If I hold  something  against an -
other, be  it a belief of sickness, poverty, or anything  else, I must lose  it 
and let it go, not by using  words of denial but by believing  him to be  what
he desires to be. In that way I completely forgive him. I changed  my con -
cept of him. I had  ought against him and  I forgave  him. Complete   forget -
fulness is forgiveness. If I do not forget then I have  not forgiven. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenI only forgive  something  when I truly forget. I can say to you  until the 
end of time, "I forgive  you." But if every time  I see you  or think  of you, I 
am reminded  of what I held  against you, I have  not forgiven you  at all. Forgiveness is complete  forgetfulness. You  go to a doctor and  he gives 
you something  for your sickness. He  is trying  to take it from you, so 
he gives you  something  in place  of it. Give yourself a  new concept of self for the  old concept. Give up the old 
concept completely. A prayer  granted  implies that something  is done  in consequence of 
the prayer  which otherwise  would  not have  been done. Therefore,  I my-
self am the  spring  of action, the  directing  mind and the one who grants 
the prayer. Anyone  who prays successfully turns within, and  appropriates the state  
sought. You  have no sacrifice to offer. Do not let anyone  tell you  that you 
must struggle  and suffer. You  need not struggle  for the  realization of your 
desire. Read what it says in the  Bible. "To what purpose  is the  multitude  of your sacrifices unto me  saith the  
Lord:  I am full of the  burnt offerings of rams, and  the fat of fed  beasts; 
and I delight not in the  blood  of bullocks, or of lambs, or of goats." "When ye  come  to appear  before  me, who hath required  that at your 
hand, to tread  my courts?" "Bring  no more  vain oblations; incense  is an abomination unto me; the  
new moons and  Sabbaths, the  calling  of assemblies, I cannot endure  iniq-
uity and  solemn assembly." "Your new moons and  your appointed  feasts my soul hates:  they have  be-
come  a burden to me,  I am weary of bearing  them" Isaiah 1:11 -14. "Ye shall have  a song as in the  night when a  holy solemnity is kept; and 
gladness of heart, as when one  goeth with a  pipe to come  into the  moun -
tain of the  Lord, to the  mighty One  of Israel." Isaiah 30:29. "Sing  unto the  Lord a new song, and  his praise  from the  end of the 
earth." Isaiah 42:  10. "Sing, O  ye heavens; for the  Lord hath done  it: shout, ye  lower  parts of 
the earth:  break   forth into singing, ye  mountains, O  forest, and  every 
tree therein:  for the  Lord hath redeemed  Jacob, and  glorified  himself in 
Israel." Isaiah 44:23. More Free Books Law of Attraction Haven"Therefore  the redeemed  of the  Lord shall return, and  come  with singing 
unto Zion; and   everlasting  joy shall be  upon their head. They shall obtain
gladness and  joy; and  sorrow  and mourning  shall flee away." Isaiah 
51:11. The only acceptable  gift is a  joyful heart. Come  with singing  and praise. That is the  way to  come  before  the Lord your own consciousness. Assume
the feeling  of your wish  fulfilled, and  you have brought the  only accept -
able gift. All states of mind  other  than that  of the  wish fulfilled  are an 
abomination; they are  superstition and  mean nothing. When you  come  before  me, rejoice, because  rejoicing  implies that some -
thing has happened  which you  desired. Come  before  me singing, giving 
praise, and  giving  thanks, for these  states of mind  imply acceptance of 
the state sought. Put yourself in the  proper  mood  and your own con -
sciousness will embody it. If I could  define  prayer  for anyone  and put it just as clearly as I could, I 
would  simply say, "It is the  feeling  of the  wish fulfilled." If you  ask, "What 
do you  mean by that?" I would   say, "I would  feel myself into the  situation
of the  answered  prayer  and then I would  live and act upon that convic -
tion." I would  try to sustain it without effort, that is, I would  live and act 
as though it were  already a  fact, knowing  that as I walk  in this fixed  atti-
tude my assumption will  harden into fact. Time does not permit me  to go any further  into the  argument that the  
Bible is not history. But if you  have listened  attentively to my message 
these  past four nights, I do not think  you want any more  proof that the  
Bible is not history. Apply what you  have heard  and you will realize your 
desires. **************   
"And now I have  told you before  it come  to pass, that, when it is come  to 
pass, ye  might  believe." John 14:29. Many persons, myself included,  have observed  events before  they oc -
curred; that is, before  they occurred  in this world  of three dimensions. Since man can observe  an event before  it occurs in the  three dimensions 
of space,  then life  on earth proceeds according  to plan; and  this plan 
must exist elsewhere  in another  dimension and  is slowly moving  through 
our space. If the  occurring  events were  not in this world  when they were  observed, 
then to be perfectly logical they must have  been out of this world. And 
whatever  is THERE to be  seen before  it occurs HERE must be  "pre-
determined" from the  point of view  of man  awake in a  three dimensional 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenworld. Yet the  ancient teachers  taught us that we  could  alter the future, 
and my own experience confirms the  truth of their teaching. Therefore, my object in giving  this course  is to indicate  possibilities inher -
ent in man, to   show  that man can alter  his future; but, thus altered, it 
forms again a  deterministic sequence starting  from the  point of interfer -
ence a future  that will be  consistent with the  alteration. The most remarkable  feature  of man's future  is its flexibility. The  future, 
although  prepared  in advance in every detail, has several outcomes. We 
have at every moment of our lives the  choice before  us which of several 
futures we  will have. There  are two actual outlooks on the  world  possessed  by everyone  - 
a natural focus and  a spiritual focus. The  ancient teachers called one “the 
carnal mind," and  the other  "the mind  of Christ." We  may differentiate 
them as ordinary waking  consciousness, governed  by our senses, and a 
controlled  imagination, governed  by desire. We recognize these  two distinct centers of thought in the statement: 
"The natural man receiveth not the  things of the  Spirit of God:  for they 
are foolishness unto him:  neither  can he know  them, because  they are 
spiritually discerned." I Cor. 2:14. The natural view confines reality to the  moment called  NOW. To the  natu-
ral view,  the past and  future  are purely imaginary. The  spiritual view  on 
the other  hand sees the  contents of time. The past and future are a 
present whole  to the  spiritual view. What is mental and  subjective  to 
the natural man is concrete  and objective  to the  spiritual man. The habit of seeing  only that which our senses permit renders  us totally 
blind to what, otherwise, we could  see. To cultivate  the faculty of seeing 
the invisible, we  should  often deliberately disentangle  our minds from the 
evidence of the  senses and  focus our attention  on an invisible  state,  men-
tally feeling  it and  sensing  it until it has all the  distinctness of reality. Earnest, concentrated  thought focused  in a particular  direction shuts out 
other  sensations and  causes them to disappear. We  have only to concen -
trate on the  state desired  in order  to see it. The habit of withdrawing  attention from the  region of sensation and  con-
centrating  it on the  invisible  develops our spiritual outlook  and enables us 
to penetrate  beyond  the world  of sense  and to see that which is invisible. "For the  invisible  things of him from the creation of the world are clearly 
seen." Rom. 1:20. This vision is completely independent of the natural 
faculties. Open it and  quicken it! More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenA little  practice will convince us that we  can, by controlling  our imagina -
tion, reshape our future  in harmony with our desire. Desire  is the  main-
spring  of action. We  could  not move a  single  finger  unless we had  a de-
sire to move  it. No matter  what we  do, we  follow  the desire  which at the  
moment dominates our minds. When we  break  a habit, our desire  to  
break  it is greater  than our desire  to continue  the habit. The desires which impel us to action are  those  which hold  our attention. A
desire  is but an  awareness of something  we lack and need to make our 
life more enjoyable. Desires always have  some  personal gain in view, the 
greater  the anticipated  gain, the  more intense  is the  desire. There  is no 
absolutely unselfish desire. Where  there  is nothing  to gain there  is no de -
sire, and  consequently no action. The spiritual man speaks to the  natural man through the  language of de -
sire. The  key to  progress in life  and to the  fulfillment of dreams lies in 
ready obedience to its voice. Unhesitating  obedience to its voice is an im -
mediate  assumption of the  wish fulfilled. To  desire  a state is to have  it. As
Pascal has said, "You  would  not have  sought me  had you not already 
found  me." Man, by assuming  the feeling  of his wish fulfilled,  and then living  and act-
ing on this conviction, alters the  future  in harmony with his assumption. Assumptions awaken what  they affirm.
How_to_Manifest_Your_Desires_by_Neville_Goddard.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        If you imagine yourself shaking another person's hand, do not use your 
physical hand, let it remain immobilized. But imagine that housed within 
your hand is a more subtle, more real hand, which can be extracted in 
your imagination. Put your imaginary hand into the imaginary hand of 
your friend who stands before you and feel the handshake. Keep your 
physical body immobilized even though you become mentally active in 
what you are now about to do. Now we will go into the silence. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenLesson IV: No One To Change But Self
May I take just a minute to clarify what was said last night. A lady felt 
from what I said last night that I am anti one nation. I do hope that I am 
not anti any nation, race or belief. If perchance I used a nation, it was 
only to illustrate a point. What I tried to tell you was this – we become what we contemplate. For it
is the nature of love, as it is the nature of hate, to change us into the like -
ness of that which we contemplate. Last night I simply read a news item 
to show you that when we think we can destroy our image by breaking 
the mirror, we are only fooling ourselves. When, through war on revolution, we destroy titles which to us represent 
arrogance and greed, we become in time the embodiment of that which 
we thought we had destroyed. So today the people who thought they de -
stroyed the tyrants are themselves that which they thought they had de -
stroyed. That I may not be misunderstood, let me again lay the foundation of this 
principle. Consciousness is the one and only reality. We are incapable of 
seeing other than the contents of our own consciousness. Therefore, hate betrays us in the hour of victory and condemns us to be 
that which we condemn. All conquest results in an exchange of character -
istics, so that conquerors become like the conquered foe. We hate others 
for the evil which is in ourselves. Races, nations, and religious groups 
have lived for centuries in intimate hostility, and it is the nature of hatred,
as it is the nature of love, to change us into the likeness of that which we 
contemplate. Nations act toward other nations as their own citizens act toward each 
other. When slavery exists in a state and that nation attacks another it is 
with intent to enslave. When there is a fierce economic competition be -
tween citizen and citizen, then in war with another nation the object of 
the war is to destroy the trade of the enemy. Wars of domination are 
brought about by the will of those who within a state are dominant over 
the fortunes of the rest. We radiate the world that surrounds us by the intensity of our imagination
and feeling. But in this third-dimensional world of ours time beats slowly. And so we do not always observe the relationship of the visible world to 
our inner nature. Now that is really what I meant. I thought I had said it. That I may not be
misunderstood, that is my principle. You and I can contemplate an ideal, 
and become it by falling in love with it. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenOn the other hand we can contemplate something we heartily dislike and 
by condemning it we will become it. But because of the slowness of time 
in this three-dimensional world, when we do become what we contem -
plated we have forgotten that formerly we set out to worship or destroy 
it. Tonight's lesson is the capstone of the Bible, so do give me your atten -
tion. The most important question asked in the Bible will be found in the 
16th chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew. As you know, all of the Bible stories are your stories; its characters live 
only in the mind of man. They have no reference at all to any person, who
lived in time and space, or to any event that ever occurred upon earth. *****
The drama related in Matthew takes place in this manner. Jesus turns to 
his disciples and asks them, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man 
am. ” (Matt 16:13). “And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and
others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. ”
“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am. ”
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou are the Christ, the Son of the 
living God. ”
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jon -
ah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it until thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven. ”
“And I say also unto thee that thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will 
build my church. ” (Matt 16:14-18). Jesus turning to his disciples is man turning to his disciplined mind in self-
contemplation. You ask yourself the question, “Whom do men say that I 
am. ” In our language, “I wonder what men think of me. ”
You answer, “Some say John come again, some say Elias, others say 
Jeremiah, and still others a prophet of old come again. ”
It is very flattering to be told that you are, or that you resemble, the 
great men of the past, but enlightened reason is not enslaved by public 
opinion. It is only concerned with the truth so it asks itself another ques -
tion, “But whom say ye that I am. ” In other words, “Who am I. ”
More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenIf I am bold enough to assume that I am Christ Jesus, the answer will 
come back, “Thou are Christ Jesus. ”
When I can assume it and feel it and boldly live it, I will say to myself, 
“Flesh and blood could not have told me this. But my Father which is in 
Heaven revealed it unto me. ” Then I make this concept of self the rock on
which I establish my church, my world. “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. ” (John 8:24). Because consciousness is the only reality I must assume that I am al -
ready that which I desire to be. If I do not believe that I am already what 
I want to be, then I remain as I am and die in this limitation. Man is always looking for some prop on which to lean. He is always look -
ing for some excuse to justify his failure. This revelation gives man no ex -
cuse for failure. His concept of himself is the cause of all the circum -
stances of his life. All changes must first come from within himself; and if 
he does not change on the outside it is because he has not changed with -
in. But man does not like to feel that he is solely responsible for the con -
ditions of his life. “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more 
with him. ”
“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away. ”
“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go. ” Thou has 
the words of eternal life. ” (John 6:66-68). I may not like what I have just heard, that I must turn to my own con -
sciousness as to the only reality, the only foundation on which all phe -
nomena can be explained. It was easier living when I could blame anoth -
er. It was much easier living when I could blame society for my ills, or 
point a finger across the sea, and blame another nation. It was easier liv -
ing when I could blame the weather for the way I feel. But to tell me that 
I am the cause of all that happens to me that I am forever molding my 
world in harmony with my inner nature, that is more than man is willing 
to accept. If this is true, to whom would I go. If these are the words of 
eternal life, I must return to them, even though they seem so difficult to 
digest. When man fully understands this, he knows that public opinion does not 
matter, for men only tell him who he is. The behavior of men constantly 
tell me who I have conceived myself to be. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenIf I accept this challenge and begin to live by it, I finally reach the point 
that is called the great prayer of the Bible. It is related in the 17th chapter 
of the Gospel of St John. “I have finished the work which thou gavest me 
to do. (John 17:4). “And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I 
had with thee before the world was. ” (John 17:5). “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that 
thou gavest me I have kept, and one of them is lost, but the son of perdi -
tion. ” (John 17:12). It is impossible for anything to be lost. In this divine economy nothing can
be lost, it cannot even pass away. The little flower which has bloomed 
once, blooms forever. It is invisible to you here with your limited focus, 
but blooms forever in the larger dimension of your being, and tomorrow 
you will encounter it. All that thou gavest me I have kept in thy name, and none have I lost 
save the son of perdition. The son of perdition means simply the belief in 
loss. Son is a concept, an idea. Perdido is loss. I have only truly lost the 
concept of loss, for nothing can be lost. I can descend from the sphere where the thing itself now lives, and as I 
descend in consciousness to a lower level within myself it passes from my
world. I say, “I have lost my health. I have lost my wealth. I have lost my
standing in the community. I have lost faith. I have lost a thousand 
things. ” But the things in themselves, having once been real in my world, 
can never cease to be. They never become unreal with the passage of 
time. I, by my descent in consciousness to a lower level, cause these things to 
disappear from my sight and I say, “They have gone; they are finished as 
far as my world goes. ” All I need do is to ascend to the level where they 
are eternal, and they once more objectify themselves and appear as reali -
ties within my world. The crux of the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel of St John is found in the
19th verse. “And for their sake I sanctify myself, that they also might be 
sanctified through the truth. ” 
Heretofore I thought I could change others through effort. Now I know I 
cannot change another unless I first change myself. To change another 
within my world I must first change my concept of that other; and to do it
best I change my concept of self. For it was the concept I held of self that 
made me see others as I did. More Free Books Law of Attraction HavenHad I a noble, dignified concept of myself, I never could have seen the 
unlovely in others. Instead of trying to change others through argument and force, let me 
but ascend in consciousness to a higher level and I will automatically 
change others by changing myself. “There is no one to change but self; 
that self is simply your awareness, your consciousness and the world in 
which it lives is determined by the concept you hold of self. It is to con -
sciousness that we must turn as to the only reality. For there is no clear 
conception of the origin of phenomena except that consciousness is all 
and all is consciousness. You need no helper to bring you what you seek. Do not for one second 
believe that I am advocating escape from reality when I ask you to simply
assume you are now the man or the lady that you want to be. If you and I could feel what it would be like were we now that which we 
want to be, and live in this mental atmosphere as though it were real, 
then, in a way we do not know, our assumption would harden into fact. This is all we need do in order to ascend to the level where our assump -
tion is already an objective, concrete reality. I need change no man, I sanctify myself and in so doing I sanctify others. To the pure all things are pure. “There is nothing unclean of itself: but to 
him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. ” (Rom 
14:14). There is nothing in itself unclean, but you, by your concept of self,
see things either clean or unclean. “I and my Father are one. ” (John 10:30). “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. ”
“But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may 
know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. ” (John 10:37, 
38). He made himself one with God and thought it not strange or robbery to 
do the works of God. You always bear fruit in harmony with what you are. It is the most natural thing in the world for a pear tree to bear pears, an 
apple tree to bear apples, and for man to mold the circumstances of his 
life in harmony with his inner nature. “I am the vine, ye are the branches. ” (John 15:5). A branch has no life 
save it be rooted in the vine. All I need do to change the fruit is to change
the vine. You have no life in my world save that I am conscious of you. You are 
More Free Books Law of Attraction Havenrooted in me and, like fruit, you bear witness of the vine that I am. There 
is no reality in the world other than your consciousness. Although you 
may now seem to be what you do not want to be, all you need do to 
change it, and to prove the change by circumstances in your world, is to 
quietly assume that you are that which you now want to be, and in a way 
you do not know you will become it. There is no other way to change this world. “I am the way. ” My I Amness, 
my consciousness is the way by which I change my world. As I change my
concept of self, I change my world. When men and women help or hinder 
us, they only play the part that we, by our concept of self, wrote for 
them, and they play it automatically. They must play the parts they are 
playing because we are what we are. You will change the world only when you become the embodiment of that 
which you want the world to be. You have but one gift in this world that is
truly yours to give and that is yourself. Unless you yourself are that which
you want the world to be, you will never see it in this world. “Except ye 
believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Consciousness is the one and only reality.
According to the passage, what is the only reality?
We must assume that we already are what we want to be and sustain this assumption.
What is the key to changing oneself and, in turn, changing the world?
Desire is the main spring of action.
What is the main spring of action?
No, we cannot change others; we can only change ourselves, and by doing so, we will automatically change the world.
According to the passage, can we change others?
Forgiveness is complete forgetfulness; we must forgive by forgetting, and not by using words of denial.
What is the importance of forgiveness?