Lessons on the Philosophy of Life
Book Details
Author(s)Lucie G. Beckham
ISBN / ASINB00747EDTQ
ISBN-13978B00747EDT6
Sales Rank2,241,602
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
In the Truth presented in these lessons is Spirit, and is Life for all who open their hearts to receive.
Expect as you read, to be healed.
Lesson 1
The Basic Principle — Cod.
We are to deal with the Philosophy of Life, therefore we have to do, first with the Source of Life, the Creator.
Inherent with man is some conception of a supreme, overruling, creative Deity. The name that is given this Source of Being is not an essential point. Whether man calls his Deity Great First Cause, First Principle, Creative Force, Supreme Law, Great Spirit, Brahma, Tao, or God, he refers to the one Fountain-head or Source. Man has for ages been quibbling over words. As we place ourselves upon a broader platform, looking to the esoteric, in the depths of which all differences may be harmonized, rather than continuing to stumble over mere surface discrepancies, we realize that to whatever time, people, nation or religion we belong, all emanate from one Creator and all are seeking one end—Freedom.
'' That which exists is One, sages call it variously." —Rigveda.
Throughout Christendom we are accustomed to the name God ; for this reason we will adhere to that name.
There are many people who call themselves atheists because they have rejected the idea of a personal
God. Strictly speaking such people are not atheists. While it is true that there are those who do not believe in the traditional conception of God, I refute the idea that there is one who does not believe in God as He is. " When we have broken the God of tradition, and ceased from the God of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with His presence," says Emerson.
James Freeman Clark, in his "Ten Great Religions," says: "We are too apt to s-iy that a man has no religion who has a religion different from ourselves ; that a man has no Christ who believes in other forms of Christianity than ours, and that a man is without God who worships the Deity by other forms than our own." The reason that many thinking people have considered themselves and have been called atheists, is because they have reached a place where they can no longer be bound by the limitations of tradition. "Socrates," says Clark, '' Was called an atheist because his conception of the Deity was higher than that of his contemporaries."
God is not a particularized being, an embodied personality, located in some far away and unknown heaven, seated upon a throne, dealing out good and evil, reward and punishment, as might some mortal king. God is the great Law that governs the universe. God is the Principle of Being. God is the great Spirit of the Good.
In the fourth chapter of John, twenty-fourth verse, of the King James version of the Bible, we read that
Jesus Christ said, "God is a Spirit." The original Greek reads, "Spirit the God. is ;" in other words, the God is Spirit. Know the Truth then, about God, and regard Him not as a Spirit, but as the Spirit or Substance of all that is.
As we deepen and broaden our vision so that our spiritual horizon can no longer be encompassed by the limitations of a personal God, we understand that everyone believes in God. I make this statement because it is a fact known to those who have studied mankind with relation to its religious tendency, that however primitive the race to which he belongs, there is in the soul of man an innate recognition of a creative Source, whatever name he may give it. Another, and more apparent reason is, that every man believes in some form, or has some conception of the Good, and however limited this may be, it measures his belief in God.
Many people, while acknowledging that they believe in universal brotherhood, in charity, in justice, in integrity, and while living to a large extent in accord with their belief, will tell you that they do not believe in God. It is impossible for one to believe in the Good and not believe in God, for God is the Good. The word God comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning good.
Whatever variation there has been ..
Expect as you read, to be healed.
Lesson 1
The Basic Principle — Cod.
We are to deal with the Philosophy of Life, therefore we have to do, first with the Source of Life, the Creator.
Inherent with man is some conception of a supreme, overruling, creative Deity. The name that is given this Source of Being is not an essential point. Whether man calls his Deity Great First Cause, First Principle, Creative Force, Supreme Law, Great Spirit, Brahma, Tao, or God, he refers to the one Fountain-head or Source. Man has for ages been quibbling over words. As we place ourselves upon a broader platform, looking to the esoteric, in the depths of which all differences may be harmonized, rather than continuing to stumble over mere surface discrepancies, we realize that to whatever time, people, nation or religion we belong, all emanate from one Creator and all are seeking one end—Freedom.
'' That which exists is One, sages call it variously." —Rigveda.
Throughout Christendom we are accustomed to the name God ; for this reason we will adhere to that name.
There are many people who call themselves atheists because they have rejected the idea of a personal
God. Strictly speaking such people are not atheists. While it is true that there are those who do not believe in the traditional conception of God, I refute the idea that there is one who does not believe in God as He is. " When we have broken the God of tradition, and ceased from the God of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with His presence," says Emerson.
James Freeman Clark, in his "Ten Great Religions," says: "We are too apt to s-iy that a man has no religion who has a religion different from ourselves ; that a man has no Christ who believes in other forms of Christianity than ours, and that a man is without God who worships the Deity by other forms than our own." The reason that many thinking people have considered themselves and have been called atheists, is because they have reached a place where they can no longer be bound by the limitations of tradition. "Socrates," says Clark, '' Was called an atheist because his conception of the Deity was higher than that of his contemporaries."
God is not a particularized being, an embodied personality, located in some far away and unknown heaven, seated upon a throne, dealing out good and evil, reward and punishment, as might some mortal king. God is the great Law that governs the universe. God is the Principle of Being. God is the great Spirit of the Good.
In the fourth chapter of John, twenty-fourth verse, of the King James version of the Bible, we read that
Jesus Christ said, "God is a Spirit." The original Greek reads, "Spirit the God. is ;" in other words, the God is Spirit. Know the Truth then, about God, and regard Him not as a Spirit, but as the Spirit or Substance of all that is.
As we deepen and broaden our vision so that our spiritual horizon can no longer be encompassed by the limitations of a personal God, we understand that everyone believes in God. I make this statement because it is a fact known to those who have studied mankind with relation to its religious tendency, that however primitive the race to which he belongs, there is in the soul of man an innate recognition of a creative Source, whatever name he may give it. Another, and more apparent reason is, that every man believes in some form, or has some conception of the Good, and however limited this may be, it measures his belief in God.
Many people, while acknowledging that they believe in universal brotherhood, in charity, in justice, in integrity, and while living to a large extent in accord with their belief, will tell you that they do not believe in God. It is impossible for one to believe in the Good and not believe in God, for God is the Good. The word God comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning good.
Whatever variation there has been ..
