this after we are dead and have passed into another state, but here and now. If this was possible to John, why is it not possible to others? Jesus is reported by the faithful John as saying: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” 1 What we want to know is what John saw and what mental process will enable us to see what John saw. Spiritual vision alone makes this possible. Tradition tells us that when Saul of Tarsus saw this vision he exclaimed: "The City and the World." There is a striking analogy between these two exclamations. John was, like many who have traveled the same highway of life he trod, tired of the old earth and the old idea of heaven. Paul was proud of being a citizen of Rome, for Rome was to his material vision the city and the world. However, when he saw this vision he beheld what he quickly acknowledged to be the only city and the only world. Besides, this vision made him a different man and what is more important it potentized his words to the extent that he influenced thousands of men and women while he lived. Moreover this potentialization has continued to the extent that even those who do not understand his words venerate them and those who deny them would not have the temerity to efface them. All of this happened while he was a citizen of Rome and a man among men.

It is my experience, knowledge and demonstration that these men had reached the state of mental purification or desymbolization where they were able to see Substance. We have considered both the appearance of this Substance and its effect on the human mind. There are, however, two effects of great moment. One

1 Bible John 14:9.

is the power of those possessing it to be able to reflect and benefit others physically, for nearly all of them have been endowed to some extent with the power to heal disease. The other and by far the most important and far reaching in its effect is the value of the teachings of these men to their fellow men. On account of the worshipful nature of the male and female minds anyone possessing a little knowledge or power supposedly from this source becomes so venerated and such an object of worship it is dangerous to call attention to his human attributes while he is exercising holy authority. Since this is a philosophical work the purpose of which is to separate in Bible language the chaff from the wheat and in our language the graven images of the thought-out mind from pure Substance we must be faithful to our text and risk the opprobrium of those who will not study and only believe.

There are men and women who see Substance. They are few in number and their advent spans centuries and often tens of centuries. Their appearance marks an epoch in human history and their influence is never entirely eliminated by their successors, by the process of natural transformation, the extermination of their race or of civilization. Even the dumb objects of their tombs interest us, talk to us and through the vision of the mind we define their symbols, learn their language and feel a sacred influence we are fain to name.

They have all taught the same thing. In view of the contradictions of religions this sounds like a strange statement; nevertheless it is true. They have all taught what has become known as the golden rule. Do

unto others as you would be done by and love one another, has been the substance of all their teachings. The basis of this has been their knowledge that Substance-God was the Father of all life and necessarily the father of all men. Their knowledge that Substance was always harmonious and peaceful implied this possibility among men. This is the Substance and basis of the teachings of all of them. It may have come through the morals of Confucius, the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius or the transcendent wisdom of Jesus of Nazareth. It is graven in stone, cast in bronze and printed in every method known from hieroglyphic to linotype. It was the principle of the literature of the ancients and there is a revival of it at the present time.

Moreover, the organizations based on the teachings of those who had seen Substance have always held the balance of power in the world. It would be interesting to know how many of these teachers conceived in the beginning of their work the idea of establishing an organized religion; to what extent they contributed to such an organization; the scope and extent of its purpose and the nature of its central ideal. Jesus of Nazareth never referred to the need of one and contributed nothing to the construction of the organization supposed to commemorate his advent. He did say: "Upon this rock I will build my church,"1 but church with him consisted of a knowledge of himself and his Father, -in Spirit and in Truth. John in his Apocalypse continually uses the words: "Hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." But since neither the human brain nor the human organization can hear Spirit it is evi

1 Bible-Matthew 16:18.

dent it was to our spiritual consciousness he referred. Like Jesus of Nazareth he always stipulated the necessity of having an ear. Yet all of those who heard and read had ears. Right here is the secret of understanding these men. We must, in keeping with the process outlined in the Origin of Mental Species, develop this ear that is not natural. Even Paul stipulates this necessity when he says: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

1

It is my experience and knowledge that this hearing is not a faculty of the physical senses, yet it is possible to man here and now. What we want to know is the method of developing communication between what would appear to be a sense of this within ourselves reaching out through the immaterial natural law of affinity to combine with its own source and primal Substance. If this is possible to the few why is it not possible to the many who hunger after it? Moreover, if this process is true it precludes human belief and if human belief is not the way there has been an appalling mistake, for all around us we are exhorted to believe. According to the law of probabilities, allied to scientific analysis, the opposite of belief would be the next step. Besides, the human mind believes the opposite of truth even in the natural world of human affairs more readily than it does merely relative truth.

This work being largely one of relations and values, the most important thing to be considered is the value of this species to human life. Jesus of Nazareth was

1 Bible-First Corinthians 2:14.

the greatest of those teachers and He succeeded in convincing enough of those of His time to carry the work He started beyond the period of His human existence. Much, however, is due to the work of Paul who neither saw Jesus nor received any instruction from Him. Just what would have happened without Paul's contribution it is impossible to decide. However, both taught the same thing and Paul recognized Jesus as the Christ. The followers of Jesus succeeded in getting the Roman Empire to embrace their teachings, which is all that could be asked for or accomplished by any school or propaganda. On this point they succeeded beyond the most sanguine hope of any teacher. The condition of the world or what is known as the Christian world from that period until its rescue by the natural scientists and inglorious prophets is a matter of knowledge according to one's education. The dark ages, the inquisition and the human despair of that time, are known in a general way to everyone. If Jesus' teachings are the greatest ever known, and no one familiar with His teachings will deny this, what happened to them, and if anything happened to pervert them why did it happen in spite of the activity and influence of His teachings? The advent of all of these teachers seems to have been followed by a violent mental upheaval. Factions, schisms and persecutions have followed them all but especially the teachings of Jesus. One reason for this may be that we know more about the history of this period than we do of Asia and the far East. Another and far more probable one is the depth of His wisdom and the intensity of His teachings. Besides, this was the very condition I found among moderns who were