The following is Lesson Number 3 in WHAT IS MY IDEAL?,
compiled by the NORFOLK STUDY GROUP NO. 1 of the ASSOCIATION
FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT, INC., Virginia Beach,
Virginia:
"Let that mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."
(Phil. 2:5)
WHAT IS MY IDEAL?
"I sit with my ideal all the time,
He is nearer than hands or feet,
Nearer than the breath I breathe." [E.W.?]
MEANING OF AN IDEAL - Our ideal are ever present; they are
either consciously or unconsciously the basis for the
motivating forces in our lives. What is an ideal? We are
told that mental concept, or that conceived as a standard of
perfection is an ideal. Mind is the builder. We are ever
striving toward something to worship, something to love, be
it physical, mental or spiritual. From our experience we
form ideas; then through the action of imagination we
sometimes confuse these ideas with ideals. AN IDEAL MUST BE
SOMETHING BEYOND AND ABOVE US THAT WE EVER BUILD TOWARD. To
bind ourselves by calling our ideas ideals means the
beginning of decay in the soul structure which we have
builded.
IDEALS GROW WITH DEVELOPMENT - In childhood the height which
we hoped to reach was lower by far than the one that we
placed as a goal in youth. We recall that the God we
worshiped in our childhood has grown to the Spirit we now
call "Abba Father". So, as we build onward and upward, our
ideals enlarge until they reach the height of perfection, the
source of all Good, the Creative Energy of which self is a
manifestation.
From the physical, mental and spiritual viewpoint our ideals
are patterns by which we endeavor to shape our lives. We
must understand the meaning of "The Oneness" and merge our
physical and mental ideals in the spiritual ideal of the
soul. A student of Truth relates the following:
"I had a direct message to teach Truth - the Truth as set
forth by HIM, my Ideal. I started out, blindly; for I knew
but little to teach. Days passed; days of toil,
disappointment and heartbreaking loneliness - spiritual
loneliness. Finally one morning, after much prayer and
meditation, there came a light, an uplifting, a glorious
Presence that bore witness that I had chosen the right Ideal.
The voice said: 'Not by power, nor by might, but by my
Spirit, saith the Lord.'"
"I had indeed had my wilderness experience, but I was not
willing to follow the Voice. I tried to push it off, I
thought I must now demonstrate my fitness to teach the truth,
for I had indeed felt the presence of the Lord. I was trying
to make the pattern fit my narrow finite mind, and not
willing to trust my Ideal, come what may. I had other
lessons to learn - for months. I was hurled down, down to
disappointment, ridicule and shame, yet I never forgot the
Presence that had one sustained me. Again it lifted me up -
but only when I was willing to see, accept and know, that it
is: 'NOT BY POWER, NOR BY MIGHT, BUT BY MY SPIRIT, SAITH THE
LORD' that one can go forth conquering and to conquer."
Our spiritual pattern should not be trimmed to fit us, but we
should grow to fit the pattern, whose maker and finisher is
God.
THE TRUE IDEAL - The true ideal is the highest spiritual
attainment to be reached on this material plane; hence, it
follows that our ideal must be found in Christ, who is the
way, "For he that climbs up some other way is a thief and a
robber." All real seekers after truth recognize this,
although they may have different ways of expressing it. The
following quotations will illustrate this:
"To think, to speak, to act from the consciousness of my
divine self that I may be like Him and do the things that He
said I could do, and to help those who have not heard His
voice - this is my ideal."
"Thou glorious ONE, radiant beyond finite mind, I would
manifest Thee more fully. Thou tender and loving Father, for
Thy Son's sake, give me the earnestness of the Spirit to bear
witness with my spirit that I am a Son of God, and to fully
realize that my brother is at onement with Thee. Awaken me
to the newness of life, peace, love, knowledge and
understanding - then, I shall have reached my true ideal."
"My ideal is spiritual in essence, regardless of where it
leads. Christ the guide, Christ the leader, Christ the way.
His ways are my ways, His ambitions are my ambitions; for we
are the Sons of God and should act as such. God's will is my
Ideal."
"My Ideal is to be perfect channel through which the will of
the Father may be done, whether in the physical, the mental
or the spiritual plane, and to return to that oneness from
which I came - or from which I was sent. My hopes and
desires are in the One, by which all were created."
These are expressions of what our spiritual ideals should be:
In Jesus we have the way; in Him we have the example; in Him
we have all the attributes of the Ideal manifested. His
teachings and life of service to His fellow man show us the
way we, too, must tread in attaining the height He reached.
When in our relationship to our fellow man we are so
perfected in the Christ-Consciousness that each word, each
thought and each deed brings a blessing to those we contact,
then we may be sure that our ideal is the true one.
ATTAINING THE IDEAL - The ideal cannot, should not, will not
be that as is man-made, but must be of the Spiritual nature,
that has its foundation in Truth, in God. Know the first
principle. THE GIFT OF GOD TO MAN IS AN INDIVIDUAL SOUL,
which may be one with Him, and that may know itself to be one
with Him and yet individual in itself with attributes of the
whole, yet not the whole. Such must be the concept, must be
the ideal, whether of the imaginative, the mental, the
physical, or the spiritual body of man. All may attain to
such an ideal, yet never become the ideal, but one with the
ideal, and such an one is set in Him.
With this ideal once set, there can be no fear. There will
come to each of us that grace to dare to be a Daniel, to dare
to stand alone.
We attain our ideal by seeing the Father in others. Let our
prayer be:
GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME! HELP THOU MY UNBELIEF! LET ME SEE IN
HIM THAT THOU WOULD HAVE ME SEE IN MY FELLOW MAN. LET ME SEE
IN MY BROTHER THAT I SEE IN THAT I WORSHIP. [
262-11]
This is reached through Christ. It takes the penetrating
light of Spirit to discern the Divine spark of fallen
humanity. It takes the mind of Christ to bless and not
condemn, to love and not to censure.
The fields are now ripe unto harvest, but the laborers are
few. We must work, work for the night of unbelief and doubt
cometh. It is our heritage to catch the true concept of the
Divine in all and be in truth co-workers with God. As there
is raised in self more and more the Christ-Consciousness we
become free indeed and with freedom comes the awakening - the
awakening to the realization of the Ideal, not only in self
but more and more in the hearts, the minds, the souls of
others.
CONCLUSION - Have we chosen the Spiritual Ideal? Are the
things in our own life measured by that Ideal? Are there the
continued efforts on our part to put into practice or to
count as worthy of self being the channel that will bring
blessings to others? DO WE LOOK FOR THE GOOD IN EVERY ONE?
When we sincerely look ourselves squarely in the face and
know that our standard is that we see in the other fellow,
that our God is in him, there will come an uplifting that we
have not had before. We will seek to magnify our Ideal and
assist our brother to do the same. "Be ye therefore
merciful, as your Father also is merciful." (Luke 6:36)
"For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have
done to you;" (St. John 13:15) and there will be peace,
harmony, understanding, light that saves - even to the end.
Let each of us in our own way show forth His love day by day.
Be not over anxious, but wait on the Lord, knowing that He is
faithful who promised: "Be still and know that I AM."
46 Psalm 10 verse.
"Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I WILL COME IN TO HIM, AND WILL SUP
WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME." (Rev. 3:20)
Questions on WHAT IS MY IDEAL - Review
1. What do we understand by our Ideal?
2. What is the difference between ideas and ideals?
3. Illustrate how our Ideals grow.
4. Why does it take wilderness experiences often to teach us
to understand our Ideal?
5. What is the true Ideal?
6. Give the quotations from examples given of students of
Truth who were seeking their true Ideal.
7. Of what nature is our true Ideal?
8. Give the prayer suggested in the lesson.
9. How is the Ideal reached?
10. What power have those who have the mind of Christ?
11. What should we see in others?
12. What questions may each of us ask?
13. What is promised those who wait on the Lord?
