Practicing the Presence

1. The True Quest: Seek God, Not Things

To seek for supply, health, or companionship is an impossibility spiritually, because spiritually, there are no such things.

Shift your focus. The fundamental error in seeking fulfillment is looking for external forms of good like money, health, or relationships. These are merely effects, not the ultimate reality. True spiritual seeking is directed solely towards God, the infinite cause and substance of all things.

God is all-inclusive. When you attain God, you inherently attain all that God is, which then appears as the necessary forms in your life. There is no "God and" something else; God is the allness. Seeking anything less than God is seeking amiss and limits the infinite potential already present.

Desire only God. The highest spiritual realization comes from desiring God for God's sake alone, not for what you can get from God. This state of self-surrender allows heaven to open and pour out every form of good naturally, as it is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

2. The Divine Location: The Kingdom is Within You

The Master said that the kingdom of God is neither lo here! nor lo there! but is within you...

Internal reality. The kingdom of God, the source of all harmony, joy, and peace, is not found in external places, rituals, or even in the Bible itself, but is established within your own consciousness. This inner realization is the true holy ground.

God is omnipresent. God is not a distant deity to be reached through pilgrimages or specific locations. God is where you are, closer than breathing, nearer than hands or feet. The awareness of this indwelling Presence is the key to experiencing God's power.

Consciousness is key. God is available only in proportion to your realization and willingness to accept the discipline needed to attain the mind of Christ. This means cultivating an inner awareness of God's presence, not just intellectual knowledge about God.

3. The Path to Realization: Practice the Presence Through Meditation

Meditation is an invitation for God to speak to us or to make Himself known to us; it is not an attempt to reach God, since God is omnipresent.

Stillness and receptivity. God cannot be reached through conscious thought or intellectual effort. The way to experience God's presence is through meditation, quieting the senses and mind to become receptive to the divine impartation from within.

Consistent practice. Achieving spiritual consciousness requires continuous, conscious effort, not just occasional reading or prayer. This means training yourself to maintain an awareness of truth throughout the day, finding moments to turn within regardless of external activity.

Inner experience is vital. Knowing the letter of truth is the first step, but it is not enough. Truth must be realized and felt within consciousness to become power. Meditation facilitates this transition from intellectual knowledge to actual experience of the Christ within.

4. The Ultimate Reality: God is the Only Power

There is only one power, and God is that power.

Reject duality. The universal belief in two powers – good and evil, God and the devil/mortal mind – is the source of discord. Spiritual healing and harmonious living are based on the principle that God is the only power, and that power is all-good.

No power in effect. Evil, sin, disease, lack, and limitation are not powers in themselves. They are appearances or effects resulting from a consciousness that has accepted a belief in powers apart from God. Recognizing God's allness dissolves these appearances.

Divine law governs. God is the only law, maintaining the harmony and perfection of creation. Discords are not supported by divine law and therefore have no permanence or power over those who realize God as the sole governing principle.

5. Your True Identity: Oneness with the Infinite Self

There is not God and you or I, there is only God expressed, manifested as individual being.

One Selfhood. The sense of having a selfhood separate from God is an illusion that creates limitation. Your true identity is God expressed; you are the externalized form of the Infinite Invisible. There is only one Self, which is God, and this Self is the reality of your being and everyone else's.

Die daily to the false self. To realize your divine identity, you must relinquish the belief that you have qualities, strengths, or weaknesses of your own. Acknowledge that all good manifesting through you is God's activity, not yours. This is the meaning of denying oneself.

Immunity from external influence. When you realize God is your Selfhood, you understand that nothing external can truly harm or benefit you. All issues of life flow from within your own being, which is one with the divine, making you subject only to grace, not human laws or external forces.

6. The Source of Abundance: All Good Flows From Within

Since the activity of the Christ, Itself, is supply, then all I need to do is to let it flow.

You already have. Abundance is not something you receive from the outside; it is an infinite storehouse within your own being, which is one with God. The principle is "to him that hath, to him shall be given" – acknowledge the divine substance within, and it will flow forth.

Be a channel, not a receiver. Shift from the mindset of needing to get supply, health, or companionship to realizing you are the center through which God's infinite good flows out into the world. Your function is to express and share the abundance already within.

Give from fullness. Giving, whether of tangible resources or intangible qualities like love and forgiveness, should stem from the realization of having an abundance within. This act of pouring out from the inner source opens the windows of heaven and allows good to return, not as a reward, but as a natural consequence of the flow.

7. The Law of Relationship: See the Christ in Your Neighbor

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love is recognition. Loving your neighbor spiritually means seeing beyond their human appearance (good or bad) to recognize their true identity as pure spiritual being, the Son of God, one with the one Self that is also your reality.

What you do to others, you do to yourself. Because there is only one Self, any good or evil you direct towards another is ultimately directed towards your own being. This understanding is the true basis for doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Forgive and bless. To live in divine love, you must relinquish all judgment, condemnation, and animosity towards others, including enemies. Praying for those who despitefully use you and forgiving seventy times seven are essential practices for maintaining a consciousness aligned with the Christ.

8. The Power of Now: Live in This Moment of Christhood

There is only one time in which we can live, and that is now, in this instant; it is what we are, in this instant, that constitutes our life.

Release the past and future. Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow has not yet arrived. All that truly exists is this present moment. Dwelling on past mistakes, hurts, or future worries prevents you from experiencing the fullness of God's presence available right now.

Moment of Christhood. In this instant, you can choose to align your consciousness with the Christ, realizing your oneness with God and the divine power within. This immediate repentance and turning allows you to step out of human limitations and into spiritual reality.

No condemnation. Regardless of past errors, in this moment of realizing your Christhood and the Christhood of all, you are aligned with cosmic law. The power of God flows through you, dissolving past discords and upholding you in divine harmony.

9. The Surrendered Life: Let God Live and Act Through You

I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

Relinquish personal responsibility. The heavy burden of personal responsibility, the sense that "I" must plan, struggle, and achieve, is a product of the false sense of self. True spiritual living is letting the Christ within live your life for you.

Be a beholder. As you deepen your connection with the divine Presence through meditation, you become a beholder, watching God unfold Its plan and perform Its work through you. This eliminates fear and worry, replacing them with joy and expectancy.

God is the doer. Recognize that any good manifesting in your life – wisdom, strength, love, supply – is God in action, not your personal ability. This frees you from seeking praise or fearing censure, as the activity is God's, not yours.

10. The Fruit of Practice: Peace, Harmony, and Fulfillment

In this understanding, we have entered that sanctuary where the noises of the world never reach, and where the troubles of the world never penetrate.

Inner sanctuary. Consistent practice of the Presence, meditation, and living by spiritual principles leads to the establishment of an inner sanctuary within consciousness. This is a state of deep peace, contentment, and silence untouched by external discord.

Automatic harmony. As God's presence becomes the governing principle of your life, external circumstances naturally align with divine harmony. Problems dissolve, needs are met, and relationships become harmonious, not through human effort, but through the automatic operation of grace.

Eternal rhythm. You become one with the eternal rhythm of the universe, resting in the flow of God's grace. This surrendered life, lived in conscious union with the Father, reveals the glory of God as your individual experience, fulfilling your divine destiny.

Last updated: May 19, 2025