The Voice Within
A Clear promise from God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, has been of inestimable value to countless seekers who are striving to follow the guidance of Truth: "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." The phrase, "a word behind thee," may perhaps be taken to indicate a compelling urge to go forward. On page 390 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy makes this convincing statement: "Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul." It is this divine compulsion that leads us to recognize God as the only Life, whereby we discover that our spiritual origin is immortal Truth; then do mortal beliefs vanish.
When one is honestly willing and eager to live the highest good one knows, he will be led in the right way. We are far too apt to look for counsel to personalities and human opinions, until we become bewildered by the differing arguments and conflicting advice. Jesus is our pattern, and this was never his way of seeking and finding true directing. He looked to God, knowing that only from God, divine Mind, could there come inspiration to all who sincerely desire to yield themselves to the absolute control of Spirit. Every move, under God's guidance, is forward and Spiritward. We cannot look out and in, nor can we go forward and back, at the same time; yet this is what mortals frequently try to do. Choosing whom we will serve, and that God alone, we learn to seek the kingdom of God within, and not elsewhere.
In accordance with the command of the Master, our Leader writes (Science and Health, p. 15 ): "In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses." Much depends upon spiritual receptivity if one would gain a knowledge of God's allness and oneness. The treasured message, "Be still, and know that I am God," shows us the way to become conscious of God's presence with us.
To silence the whisperings of mortal mind while intently listening for the voice of Truth is the only way to find abiding peace, than which there is nothing more precious to be desired.
To be still would appear a very easy thing; but it may frequently prove quite the contrary. The effort to shut out everything but the voice of Truth, which is waiting to speak to us when we are still enough to hear, may seem to arouse countless mortal suggestions. There is a clamoring for attention to certain daily duties, there are calls to make, letters to write, and so on, conditions of thought familiar to seekers after Truth. However much we may feel that we should respond to some of these intrusive "must-be-done's" or "should-be-done's," a voice is to be heard, above the confusion of materiality, saying, "Be still, and know that I am God."
As the intrusive thoughts gradually quiet down for lack of attention, we begin to feel a blessed sense of peace, power, and a comforting and definite control of thought and action. This establishes newborn strength and confidence, which always come through surrender to Truth; and we realize that we are actually being fed with "the bread of life," for this is indeed Christ, Truth, within one's own consciousness. Intense personal effort at length drops away through the elimination of hurry, worry, and fear, which have no place in communion with God. Thus we begin to comprehend better the meaning of the inspiring words of the prophet Isaiah, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Having so risen in thought, we may indeed return to our daily tasks, spiritually refreshed. Through claiming our oneness with God. Life, we lose the heavy, accumulative burden of personal responsibility, and rejoice to see that all that is real and true comes from the creative power of God to man, who expresses or reflects Him.
The command is, "Be still, and know." Nothing that human sense can think or fear, say or believe, can change Truth. The abiding consciousness of the perfection of God and man is the foundation upon which we must build, for each individual idea is forever included in infinite Mind. God. As we acquire the uplifting habit of daily and hourly listening to the voice of God within spiritual thinking, we become conscious that the impersonal power of Life and Love is being naturally imparted to us, thereby blessing those with whom we come in contact. Immortal Being is Spirit, spiritually expressed. This is life eternal, that we shall know and recognize our spiritual identity as one with the only true God.
Thus we grasp more clearly, and with awakened appreciation, these words of Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 476 ): "When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you;' that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal." To aid in any degree this needed dissemination of the true gospel of the healing Christ, Truth, throughout the world, we must arouse ourselves to renewed and devout consecration to the Cause of Christian Science and to a glad renunciation of everything that is contrary to Truth.
