Book Description
Here is a book which explains not only what prayer is, but shows you clearly how to use the healing power within. Based on the Book of John, Dr. Murphy describes how you can use the most powerful, spiritual medicine in the world to bring peace, harmony, health, and abundance into your life. Dr. Murphy had rare expertise in healing therapy, and yet was able to explain even the most profound truths in clear and simple terms.

INTRODUCTION

This book is based on a series of lectures and classes given on the inner meaning of the Book of John in America and many other parts of the world. In 1948 I published St. John Speaks giving the psychological life-germ hidden behind the words of this book. It was very popular and became a transforming instrument, lifting the minds of students from the literal to a higher level of meaning. Due to innumerable requests all over the world, I have issued this revised, enlarged edition which contains the essence of my most popular of all lectures on the Book of John.

The Bible is a book intended to teach you cor­rect mental and spiritual processes. The object of all the Bible parables, allegories, and discourses is to convey spiritual truth so that man may learn to advance and grow spiritually. In a series of lectures on the spiritual meaning behind the stories in the Book of John in South Africa, Japan, India, and Europe on a recent world lecture tour, I said to thousands of students, “Unless you have the inner psychological and spiritual meaning behind the Bible, you have no Bible at all.” Paul said,

“For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” 2 Cor. 3:6.

The Bible contains the congealed wisdom of the ages. A holy man in India said to me last year that the Book of John was the most mystical of all books of the Bible or any Bible in the world. He added that it was the most profound work on the laws of life.

The ancient writers of the Bible were illumined men; they had three   ways of expressing their thoughts. The same word took in their pleasures–the literal, figurative, and the hieroglyphic sense. The first two ways, that is to say, those which consisted of taking words in the literal or figurative sense, were spoken; but the third, which could only receive its hieroglyphic form by means of the characters of which the words were composed, existed only for the eyes and was used only in writing. (See The Hebraic Tongue Restored, Fabre D’Olivet.) Through an understanding of the symbols and the meaning of each Hebrew letter (denoting a certain state of consciousness), man can interpret the Bible without much difficulty. Strong’s Concordance and Young’s Concordance are used by the writer in determining the meaning of names in the Bible.

Truth comes as a sword, for we must die to our illusions (beliefs in merely historical Biblical characters) and awaken to the psychological significance before man can know himself. The Bible is essentially a story   about ourselves, although undoubtedly some of the characters were factually historical. All the stories in the Bible teach func­tional psychology and practical metaphysics. Any of the historical characters, therefore, refer to attained levels of consciousness–moods, feelings, and ideas. The carnal mind (conscious mind, the intellect) has difficulty in grasping the things of the spirit.  This is the reason so many students of New Thought do not grow faster spiritually. They will cling fanatically to historical characters as such and fail to secure confidence in them­selves–in their Self–The One Altogether Lovely! They are so busy setting up outer gods that they ignore the God within.   

We get nowhere in the New Thought Movement by attacking the historicity of Jesus, Moses, Paul, etc; all this is idle speculation and a waste of time. Why not accept “the bare bones” of his­torical fact (not ecclesiastical jargon and legend), and begin clothing the bones with the flesh and blood of metaphysical reality and wisdom? The writer believes there was a man called Jesus who lived and performed so-called miracles of healing, but the historical Jesus also symbolizes and per­sonifies the Universal Principle common to all individual men.

The Jesus of the Bible has more than one meaning. The word Joshua is identical with the name Jesus. Joshua (Jesus) means “God is Savior,” “God is Deliverer.” When you read the Bible, look upon Jesus as Taylor said, “illumined reason or your knowledge of God.” It also means realization of your desire, the solution to your problem or salvation, the God-Presence within. Jesus sym­bolizes the cornerstone rejected, but which is most essential in building the temple of God-conscious­ness. The realization of our desire saves us from any predicament in the world; therefore, that is our savior. Our own consciousness or conviction saves us. “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”

It is never a man that saves; it is that saving state of consciousness which works the miracle. A man with hatred in his heart finds love is his savior, since it restores peace. Love would be Jesus–or savior–in that instance. The truth which Jesus taught saves, not the man Jesus. The man Jesus merely discovered the truth that functions in and about himself. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” For example, your feeling or mood of opulence will save you from poverty.

Undoubtedly, the great mystics who wrote the Bible used the historical Jesus as the ideal man whom every man aspires to be. They also used him to personify spiritual and ideal states of con­sciousness. Instead of worshiping men, let us increase the valuation we place upon ourselves. Instead of worshiping Jesus as God, let us find and worship the God of Jesus. Do not bow men­tally to idols or strange gods, as your own aware­ness is God–the only Living Reality.

The Gospel according to St. John (gospel–good news) should not be studied from the his­torical viewpoint. It teaches you how to bring health,   harmony, and peace into your life by increased understanding of God. Let us be asleep to the world, awaken to God, and move upward from glory to glory, walking always in the Light.

Jesus gave us the challenge, “Be ye perfect as the Father is.” Does this not mean that as long as we persist in and remain on the human, con­scious   level, we can never cease being man? Hence we never become as God in our respective world of body, mind, and circumstance.   

We must realize that God is Omnipresent. He is in us and He is the very life of us. He has His own Unity and Integrity in Himself, but you have Him in you on your level of awareness.   
(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In the beginning means the beginning of any creative process. Let us put the above quotation into application immediately. You read in the Bible, He sent his word and healed them. Sup­pose you wish to pray for your mother who is ill; you would send your word this way. The word means your desire, your clearly formulated idea or concept. Your desire or word must be specific and definite. You have the idea of perfect health for your mother. This idea is real. It is the seed which, as Troward says, has its own mathematics and mechanics with it. You don’t give life to the seed; you can’t make it grow. You deposit it in the soil, and by a process of watering and fertilizing the seed, you accelerate its growth; you don’t coerce or make it grow. It has its own vitality and power to grow as inherent qualities.

The word was with God. This is your second step. With is a   preposition joining two ideas together by feeling. The word with means feeling, conviction. As you still the wheels of your mind by thinking of the Healing Presence within which created your mother, your mind becomes recep­tive. This is the soil in which you deposit your seed or desire. Feel and know that the Healing Power of God is now transforming, healing, and restoring your mother into God’s perfect pattern of harmony, health, and peace. Continue to do this until you get into the mental atmosphere or mood of health. You can even imagine your mother is home, doing the things she always did. You can hear her tell how the miracle of God worked in her life and her remarkable recovery. All this can be made intensely vivid and real in your Divine, mental workshop. Your feeling of health is now resurrected in the mind of your mother and releases its healing and therapeutic potency there. The reason for this is that there is only one mind, and in the mind-principle there is no time or space; hence your idea of perfect health is instantaneously felt by her. You are thinking of your mother, which identifies her in Divine mind. She, being the receiving station, receives your heavenly broadcasts, as subjectively you are one; in the subjective, passive, receptive state of mind, there is no here or there. Your thought is Omnipresent. You may continue to pray for your mother two or three times a day in the above manner, paying no attention what­soever to hospital reports, or the belief or opinion of relatives. Continue to know that your thought and feeling are the words which heal. This is your authority. You are the mental surgeon performing a delicate, mental operation. Your instruments (thought and feeling) must be sterilized at all times. Incisively and decisively, you reject all fear-thoughts and you speak the word with conviction, knowing that what you decree governs and controls your mother’s body. You have succeeded in giving life to the concept of perfect health for your mother in your own mind, knowing the idea will germinate and grow of its own accord. You watered it with faith and expectancy, and your word (your inner feeling, your conviction of health) was God. It was good (God and good are synonymous). It came to birth as a perfect healing for the person for whom you prayed. You have put into application the formula of prayer. The whole Gospel of John teaches how con­sciousness accepts an idea and projects it as a condition, experience, or event. This same idea is expressed in the story of the whale swallowing Jonah. The whale represents your subconscious mind, which receives any idea (Jonah) felt as true; it then expresses (or casts forth on dry land) what is impressed upon it.   

It is said Jonah remained in the belly of the whale for three days. This represents the length of time it takes you to reach a conviction or the feeling your prayer is answered. It has nothing to do with three days’ time. The numeral three represents the length of time you work with the idea mentally, until it is absorbed by your con­sciousness.   

(2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (4) In him was life; and the life was the light of men.   

There is only One Creative Power. There is only One Source. God is called Awareness, Uncon­ditioned Consciousness, Life. There is only one Life and all things in the world are made inside and out of Life or Consciousness. The Bible calls God I AM, which means Being or Existence. I AM conceives itself to be sun, moon, stars, planets, etc. In fact, everything you see is the I AM in infinite differentiation. There is only one Cause, one Substance, one Source. Whatever you affix to I AM through feeling, you create in your world of expression. That is what the Bible means when it says that there is nothing made that is not made that way. Nothing is made without feeling. If you feel poor, you become poor; if you feel pros­perous, you become prosperous; if you feel digni­fied, you become dignified.   

Light means Intelligence, in the Bible. Infinite Intelligence is within you (I AM). Feel and know that you are Divinely led in all your ways and that is exactly what you will experience; then you will know and feel the meaning of and the life was the light of men.   

(5)And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (6) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  (7) The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.   

Darkness refers to ignorance or lack of knowl­edge of the way our mind works. We are in darkness when we do not know that as we think and feel so are we. Man is a conditioned state of the Unconditioned One, with all the qualities, attributes, and potencies of God. Man is here to discover who he is. He is not an automaton. He has the capacity to think two ways–positively and negatively. When he begins to discover that the only good and evil he experiences are due to the action of his own mind, he begins to awaken from the sense of bondage and limitation to the outside world. Not knowing the laws of mind, man does not know how to bring forth his desire.   

The name John does not refer to any particular man, but represents a state of consciousness where man begins to intellectually perceive the truth. All of us are here to bear witness of the Light (God) within. We bear true witness when we express har­mony, health, and peace in our mind, body, and environment. Jesus is a symbol of every man con­tinually transcending himself. He was called the Wayshower setting forth and revealing the powers within all men. He said to all, “The things I do, ye shall do and even greater things shall ye do.”   

The same Power which Jesus used is within all of us. If we will only rise in consciousness to the point of acceptance which Jesus did, we, too, will open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, and do all the things which Jesus did, because we believe.   

(8) He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. (9) That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (10) He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (11) He came unto his own, and his own received him not.   

Verse eight means your intellect (another name for John) is not the true light; it is a projection of the Infinite Intelligence within. But when my intellect is anointed or illumined by the Wisdom of God, I bear witness of the Light.   

A simple illustration of this is as follows: I had a knotty problem to solve a few days ago before I started to write on this chapter. I got still, relaxed, and said, “Infinite Intelligence knows only the answer. The answer is mine now.” I dismissed the matter and started writing. While writing these last few lines, the answer popped into my conscious mind like toast pops out of a toaster. This is called guidance or intuition. Intu­ition is simply the Wisdom of God lodged in the subjective of man, rising to the surface mind, revealing to man the solution or answer. We use the intellect (John) to carry out the inner dictates of the Divine Presence.   

The true light which lighteth every man represents the I AM or God in man. In simple, everyday language we say that awareness or consciousness is the light of the world. This is readily under­stood.   

If, for example, you were not aware of some­thing, it would not be in your world. Supposing a house fell down a few blocks away from you, if you did not see it happen or hear the noise, so far as you are concerned, it did not happen; your light (awareness) did not shine on it; there­fore it is not a part of your consciousness. Remem­ber this truth–Whatever you become aware of comes into your world. In other words, your awareness is the light which creates your world. By your world I mean your body, circumstances, environment, and all your experiences.   

You have already read in verse five the light shineth in darkness. False concepts, wrong theories, and negative thoughts represent your darkness. If you believe a fan gives you a stiff neck, it is a false light or knowledge and causes suffering in your world. Ideas and concepts which inspire you, thoughts which elevate, dignify, heal, and bless you, represent the Wisdom of God which is the true Light. True knowledge of God will light up the heaven of your mind and give you peace, serenity, a sense of security, and tran­quillity. I believe you have a good idea of what the word awareness is all about now. We must remember that we create our own world after the image and likeness of our own mental pictures and thought patterns.   

Verse ten points out that your consciousness is the creator of your world, but the majority of people do not know that the cause of all is their own state of consciousness. A state of conscious­ness means what you think, feel, believe, and mentally assent to.   

Verse eleven explains that the average person refuses to believe that his state of consciousness is the cause of all his experiences–good or bad. He prefers to blame something outside himself.   

(12) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.   

The same power which Jesus used is within all men. If we completely accepted the fact that God is Omnipotent in the same way that we make a telephone call, we could raise the dead, heal the blind, and do all the things which Jesus did. We, theoretically, give assent to these truths but we do not really believe them in our heart. This is why we keep on praying in order to convince ourselves of the truth which we affirm. As long as we go on believing we are sons of John Jones or Tom Thumb, we will never do the works of God. All we have to do is to recognize the Power of God and believe; then the miracle will happen.   

(13) Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (14) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.   

The flesh and blood spoken of represents our present limitations which pass away the minute we recognize the Spiritual Power within, realizing its Omnipotence, knowing at the same time it is responding to our thought-patterns and mental imagery. The will of God is the Nature of God; and the Nature of God is Goodness, Truth, Beauty, Wholeness, Completeness, and Perfection.   

The phrase being made flesh is experienced by you when you enter into the feeling of being healed; then you will be healed. Thus the word (your desire) is made flesh (manifested), and you behold the glory (Divine idea objectified) of the only begotten (your supreme desire) full of grace and truth, meaning harmony and the happiness which follow your answered prayer.   

(15) John bare witness of him, and cried, say­ing, This was he of whom I Spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. (16) And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. (17) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.   

You are John and you are always bearing witness or testifying to your state of consciousness. All external change follows inner change.   

Dr. Nicoll, in his writings, speaks of the lan­guage of parables, allegories, and miracles of the Bible. What he is saying is that everything said in the Bible, whether parable, allegory, or discourse has a definite, inner, psychological mean­ing, apart from the literal sense.   

Look at the statement, “He that cometh after me is preferred before me.’’ The consciousness or conviction of being healed must precede the healing. There was a man with a paralyzed hand who healed himself recently (a member of our audi­ence) by claiming ten or fifteen minutes several times daily that the Healing Power of God was healing, vitalizing, and restoring his hand. He became a new man. The man with the paralyzed hand died, and the man with the perfect, func­tioning hand awakened. This refers to the death in the belief of paralysis and the birth of the idea of perfect health. It is your own conscious­ness dying to an old state and giving birth to the new concept.   

Verse seventeen means the law and the word, the cosmic (Moses) and   the personal (Jesus). Moses is your desire, and Jesus is your conviction. Moses and Jesus refer to two phases of your own consciousness. Moses gives us the law that feeling is the creator. Jesus Christ means the harmonious union or functioning of our conscious and subconscious mind. Christ is the fulfilling of the law. Jesus Christ in simple, everyday lan­guage means I am filled full of the feeling of being what I long to be. Grace and truth (love and freedom) follow that state of consciousness. 

(18) No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (19) And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? (20) And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. (21) And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. (22) Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an  answer to them  that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
   
  We do not see God with the naked eye. We see God in the same way that we see an answer to a knotty mathematical or geometrical prob­lem. All men are begotten of the Only One. We are all sons or expressions of the One God or Life. Your clarified desire is also a son of God or idea of the Infinite. Your desire for health is a definite promise or declaration of the God-Power to heal you.
 
John (intellect) is not the Christ (Wisdom of God). Art thou Elias? Elias means God is Savior. Before the answer to any problem can come into our experience, we must realize that Infinite Intelligence is within and responds to our thought. In other words, Elias must come first. Art thou that prophet? The prophet is always Jesus or your inner conviction or feeling which determines what is to come. A simple way of answering the above Bible verse fifteen is to realize John is your conscious mind awakening to the truth. Christ is the subjective Wisdom and Power of God which you call forth when you still your mind and reject the appearance of things. As you quietly contemplate the answer, you become aware of the Inner Voice and Divine Wisdom which wells up and anoints your intellect, showing you the way you should go.
   
  (23) He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. (24) And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. (25) And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? (26) John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not.
 
  The voice crying in the wilderness is the cosmic urge, the ideals, and impulses which well up in all of us. It is the innate Principle of Life or God in all of us which ever seeks to do right. It is like a voice in the wilderness crying for the right way. When we are in the wilderness, we are in a limited state.  The Lord is the power and the authority of our mind in tune with the Infinite. We are in the wilderness of hearsay, idle thought, and opinion until we awaken to the Kingdom of God within. This   kingdom   is not afar off in time or space but co-exists with the life of all of us. We can enter into the kingdom of peace, harmony, and joy   when   we   cleanse our mind of false beliefs (baptism) and accept the Truths of God. John (conscious mind) baptizes with water.  We  are not, of course, cleansed by pouring water on the head. We have only to cleanse our feet and we are clean every whit whole.
  
The feet symbolize our understanding. When we die to our false beliefs and superstitions, we are ready to believe that the God-Presence is none other than our consciousness or awareness. Our consciousness is without face, form, or figure. It is the Invisible, Formless Power within us, taking form according to our thought and feeling. Here in your world of the mind or consciousness, you are the Christ or King of your world. Your robe as a king is the garment or mood of love. The crown you wear is the awareness of the Power of God. The scepter you hold is your authority to use this Power to bless, heal, and inspire.
 
John said, I baptize thee with water. Water, of course, is used here in a special sense. Jesus said, The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John 4:14.

Water means Truth or the Wisdom of God reigning supreme in the mind of man. As you read these words, you know the power of your own thoughts to take charge of your mind, expel all enemies, and direct the Divine forces wisely and constructively. The poor and the needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst. Isaiah 41:17. Suppose you baptize your­self with water now. Water means your conscious­ness which, like water, will assume the shape of any vessel into which it is poured. The vessel is your mental attitude or your feeling. Our unconditioned consciousness is always conditioned (conditions, experiences, and events in our life) by what we think, feel, and believe. To know this is to possess the truth which liberates you. It certainly baptizes or cleanses the mind of beliefs in external powers and causes. Our feeling of health produces health; our feeling of wealth pro­duces wealth. 

(27) He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. (28) These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. (29) The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.   In verse twenty-seven we are told that the con­scious mind is not worthy to unloose the latchet of the shoes of the deeper mind or subjective self. By the subjective self I mean not just the subconscious mind, but the Presence of God or the I AM within us. Feet symbolize understanding, and the shoes cover the feet. In other words, the conscious mind does not know the secret of cre­ation or the manner in which the Infinite Wisdom and Intelligence within man brings things to pass. Its ways are past finding out. The conscious mind cannot unlock or reveal how, when, where, or through what   source   the answer to prayer will come. Many things seem impossible to the con­scious mind, but   to the Invisible Power within man, all things are possible. Canst thou believe? All things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23.
 
In verse twenty-nine the Lamb of God is a symbolic reference to the sun as it enters the sign of Aries, a ram or a lamb. The ancients called the sun the savior of the world as it redeems the world from darkness and death when it ascends the heavens. When John (your intellect) recognizes Jesus (the God-Power within), you begin to fulfill your desires and aspirations, and your sins (your failure to reach your goal and fulfill your desires) are taken away.

(30) This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. (31) And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. (32) And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. (33) And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. (34) And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. (35) Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; (36) And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! (37) And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. (38)  Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Mas­ter), where dwellest thou? (39) He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. (40) One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. (41) He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. (42) And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. (43) The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. (44) Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. (45) Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (46) And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. (47) Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! (48) Nathanael saith unto him, whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. (49) Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (50) Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. (51) And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man. 

The essence of the above verses is a wonderful formula for prayer; its meaning is as follows: In verse thirty-eight the question, Where dwellest thou? obviously does not refer to a village or a street address. To think so would be too absurd for words. It means, where do you dwell in consciousness–your state of mind? Do you abide in the consciousness of love and oneness with God? We must so discipline our minds that we remain unmoved and impervious to the negation of the world. The disciples Andrew, Simon, Philip, and Nathanael represent faculties and powers within us. Jesus represents our I AM or Conscious­ness. Andrew means perception, i.e., seeing the truth about anything. You are using the disciple or faculty Andrew when you know God has the answer, that there is a way out, and when contem­plating the happy ending. Simon means to hear the good news. You are using this faculty when you no longer look to outer conditions for hope or encouragement.  In verse forty-two Simon’s name is changed to a stone. A stone means the rock of faith. A stone is hard, solid, and fixed. This means your faith is immovable and unshakeable. Now your confi­dence is trust in the Invisible Spirit within which becomes all things to all men. Your knowledge of the law enables you to maintain a strong convic­tion regardless of appearances and outer change.   The next faculty you call is Philip, which means perseverance and stick-to-it-ive-ness. Philip means a lover of horses. A trainer of horses is firm but kind. He has the rare quality of patience, perse­verance, and determination. You need these quali­ties to succeed in prayer-life also. Many people quit after a few days and say, “What’s the use?  It doesn’t work for me.” Be Philip and ride your horse (mood) to victory. Keep your attention focused on your goal by frequent occupancy of the mind until it takes root within you; then you are using Philip’s qualities of character and action.  

Philip finds Nathanael–the latter meaning the gift of God (our desire).  In verse forty-five we read, We have found him of whom Moses in the   law, and   the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Joseph means disci­plined imagination. Jesus is our solution to that which we want, and it comes from Nazareth (a stem, sprout, idea, thought). If we will take that sprout or idea, no matter how fantastic it is, and see it clearly as a fact now existing in con­sciousness, we have psychologically called Andrew. If we will have faith in God to bring it to pass, we have called Simon (the faculty of hearing or feeling the good tidings within). We sustain or ride that mood until it becomes a subjective embodiment within us. We are now calling Philip. Then Nathanael appears (the gift of God–our desire made manifest). We say, “Yes, this is Jesus (my answered prayer, my solution) and He is of Nazareth (that idea or desire I nourished). Yea, verily, it is the son of Joseph, the manifesta­tion of what I imagined and felt subjectively as true.” When we completely accept our desire in consciousness without reservations, we are, indeed, an Israelite without guile.

Verse forty-eight speaks of a fig tree, meaning we are in a state of sorrow, sadness, and limita­tion until we discover our Inner Power. When we call our three disciples, we come out of the limitation and no longer sit under the fig tree of lack. Our own consciousness, i.e., thought and feeling, possess the answer to our need, did we but know where and how to seek and find it. The metaphysical key to demonstration is offered in the following statement: Before we ever pray for anything, “It is.” Creation is finished. We simply give expression to that which has already been formed subjectively and spiritually. 

Go within now; claim, feel, and imagine what you want in a meditative state and become one with it. I do not know how often you will have to do this, but this I do know, if you will continue to remain faithful to your mental picture, the Almighty Power will objectify your ideal. What­ever you envision, you can achieve. Do not fail to dream lofty dreams (angels of God ascending and descending) and make them come true. In moments of meditation, as you get lost in the joy of being what you long to be, you are ascend­ing with your ideal to the heavens of your own mind. In a little while you will see it descend on the objective plane as a condition, experience, or event. The practice of these simple truths is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.