Golden Gate Course 6

Some of you who have taken the first five lessons may be thinking at this point, “When am I going to hear more about the methods of bringing prosperity into my life?”

My reply to such a question, is this. The gift of drawing down material supply from the divine abundance is perhaps the hardest to be won of all for most people. Students very soon learn how to obtain abstract things, but their imagination (that powerful magnet within them) does not contain the sure knowledge that material, concrete things can come from the unseen realm. Because of this, I am devoting most of the Course to this one subject and, with my experience of the kind of obstacles which prevent prosperity from manifesting, I am dealing again with them one by one. Yes, if you will follow me patiently, not trying to hurry over the early lessons, if you will believe me when I say that all of each lesson is of great importance to you in your aim, then I shall show you how to overcome the obstacles in your path with absolute certainty. If you have any moments of impatience, demolish them with your “Golden Gate” affirmation:- “Obstacles melt from my path as I step through the Golden Gate to good fortune and fulfilment”.

The first obstacle we must clear away is that of a deviation from truth. Almost everyone of you will think, “But I don’t tell untruths!”, but you very likely deviate from your “truth centre” within you, just the same. Think of truth as a radiant centre within your own being. This centre is the “temple” of the indwelling Divine Spirit, and. it is the indwelling Divine Spirit which you have to contact in order to bring prosperity into all your affairs. If you are not one with truth, if you turn away from it at any time you are closing the door tightly between yourself and your source of prosperity.

Most people, when they have advanced enough to come into contact with a Course of this nature, have long ago given up telling lies, even if they did it in their youth. But many people, unconscious of the harm they are doing themselves, hide from themselves the real reason for their actions, words or thoughts. They believe only what they want to believe, create pleasant illusions and alibis for themselves – and then hope, in this world of unreality in which they are living, to draw divine blessings from the very Spirit of Truth. (This is largely an unconscious condition, so don’t be in the least upset by it. But you will see how very necessary it is to seek for, and face up to, your real reason for action at all times.)

In the next two weeks I want you to clear the pathway to your truth centre. It will work wonders in your life, as you will see. So refuse to be put off from fear of seeing your temporary limitations.

Remember, we are all pilgrims on life’s road, we are all growing and climbing. We cannot expect to be perfect in all things, but we must be ready to face the imperfections before we can put them right. However, it is not for the purpose of putting them right that I want you to face up to them these next weeks. It is for the purpose of clearing the pathway to your truth centre and so coming into contact with your source of divine supply.

For this purpose I will describe briefly some of the real motives beneath common actions, words or thoughts in everyday life. Go through them and see which apply to you.

1. The first and most common is the “I had no time” excuse. How easy it is to plead busyness when in reality, the interest has waned. A common weakness is lack of persistence and perseverance. The emotional reaction at the beginning of a task is enthusiasm. An enthusiastic person usually finds the time to do what they desire in the furtherance of their aims. But as the time goes on, that enthusiasm dies. Then comes the “no time” excuse. Then we will do anything rather than settle down to the task we set ourselves so joyfully only a few short days or weeks before. Our attention wanders to things we now consider more important, and we do these instead. “First things first” is the rule in every life — but if you change your opinion constantly as to what is the first and most important thing, then you will change your attention from one “first” thing to another.

It is not persistence you want so much, you see, as a clear idea of what comes first in your life. What would have happened if the “Tarzan” books and their success had not come first with Edgar Rice Burroughs (as I mentioned before)? He would have given up long before ten publishers had rejected his work, but he still kept on after double that number of rejections and achieved success. What would have happened if Edison’s ideas for a “talking machine” and an electric lamp had not come first with him? Why, we never should have had the benefit of either. Their aims came first with successful people.

Here is where your Statement of Success becomes so valuable. Read it frequently in order to keep before your mind what comes first for you, for unless your desire to demonstrate true divine abundance in your life comes first for you in this training-time, you will never achieve it. Keep it “first” and you will have the fulfilment of your desires.

Don’t be deceived by the “no time” delusion. Face it, if it is one of your weaknesses and say within yourself; “I shall have ample time if this comes first with me”. As soon as you are determined, the time will be there, as you will discover.

2. More briefly, the second common error is that of making promises rashly and breaking them indifferently. A promise is a very serious thing because you make it (or should do) from your centre of truth and that is what makes it binding. If you do not make it from this truth centre, then you should never call it a promise. Once a promise is made you have given an assurance backed by the power of the indwelling Divine Spirit to carry it out. That is the real meaning of promises and oaths. One is just as binding in reality, as the other. Yet how many people make and break promises lightly? Unless there is a genuine reason, a one who betrays their own indwelling Spirit of truth cannot and should not succeed. Such a one seeking to climb to the abundance of divine outpouring, strikes the ladder from under their own feet.

3. Many people, are overly desirous of praise and approval from others. They are greatly concerned with the opinion of others concerning them. They have a burning desire to know what others think about their work or appearance, handicrafts or achievements generally. They remain silent however, because they also want to be considered modest. Or they may pass on letters they receive, to those around them, saying, “This will interest you because there is an account of so-and-so in it”, but in reality the letters contain flattering references to the recipient which he wants to broadcast to his friends. Another weakness is that people often want others to notice them and look admiringly at them, especially if they are being shown some small honour, such as the boss singling them out for special attention, and the like. They feign being unconcerned about the glances, or wished-for glances, of others while all the time they are “alive” with concentrated self consciousness.

These errors may be multiplied indefinitely. They are not significant in themselves, but to anyone who seeks to contact their source of divine abundance, they are serious obstacles on the path.

In the next two week, be awake to truth. Face up to your real reason for doing or saying or thinking certain things. Do not be unduly cast down by what you will see. Don’t become morbid or introspective, brooding over the past, whatever happen Just be courageous and think to yourself, “What I really want is to be admired and respected more than so-and-so and that’s a worthless aim. I’ll abandon that – but I’ve cleared away an obstacle by just recognising it.”

Have great faith in your inner power, in your own hidden capabilities, and this will counteract the negative weaknesses you will discover. Hold on to this faith in yourself at all times and you will lose all desire for the flattery of others. You will want to recognise only that which is true in you.

During the next week, as often as you can, use the “Golden Gate” affirmation as in the first lesson but when you say, “Obstacles melt from my path” think of the particular obstacles you intend to clear away now. Resolve to clear the way to the Source of divine abundance

You will be sure to keep happy during this period, won’t you? For all the digging up and throwing out is every bit as important as your actual thought building. In these lessons I’m trying to show you the power in your thinking. When it’s all very clear, that power will be released to the full. For myself, I often smile when I get demonstrations of the magnetic power of thought the illustrations are at times most unexpected and even comic. One of these latter is the magnetic attraction of people’s names to each other. Once a name is written down, it’s a thought isn’t it because nobody could write down his own name without thinking of it? Well, those names seem to leap out and link up with similar names! It has happened over and over again during the years much too often to be a coincidence.

For instance, we may have a big pile of letters in one post, some from this country and some from abroad. As they are opened, we find that a student from England named Mr. R. Bates has written and the next letter in the pile is another student named Mrs. R Bates from Australia! Sometimes I have to grin when I see enrolments from new students. One may be called Harris, and the one following, Harrison, or something like that. Once I had one called Mr. Old, and the next one was named Mr. Older I cold go on and on giving you instances like this. We often smile about them, while working in the offices.

But the point is – if thoughts can link on to others of a similar nature when they are merely written down names, just think how your thoughts of prosperity can link up with prosperity itself! Consider how your thoughts of prosperity can link you up with people who can help you, or who want to buy what you want to sell, either in goods or services. That’s how fulfilment of desires come – so be happy as you clear the way for yours.

REMEMBER:- Change your thoughts and you change your circumstances. You have 20 more weeks to practise prosperity-thinking. By then it should be a habit.

Bernard

–ooOoo-