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- Herausgeber: e-artnow
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
This carefully crafted ebook: "THE IMPERSONAL LIFE (Unabridged)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Joseph Benner (1872–1938) was an American author, Spiritual writer, and Representative of the Brotherhood of Christ who used the pen name "Anonymous." He was the first to introduce the Knowledge and Teachings of the Impersonal Life (also known as the "I AM" Teaching) to the world in his first book, "The Impersonal Life". Benner taught that Christ's proclaiming "I AM" indicated "the true spirit that resides in every human being." In the 1960s Elvis Presley was introduced to Benner's work by his guru, Larry Geller. In the last 13 years of his life, Presley gave away hundreds of copies of the book, The Impersonal Life. A copy was allegedly with him on the night he died.
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THE IMPERSONAL LIFE (Unabridged)
Spirituality & Practice Classic
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 I AM
To you who read, I speak.
To you, who, through long years and much running to and fro, have been eagerly seeking, in books and teachings, in philosophy and religion, for you know not what Truth, Happiness, Freedom, God;
To you whose Soul is weary and discouraged and almost destitute of hope;
To you, who many times have obtained a glimpse of that "Truth" only to find, when you followed and tried to reach it, that it disappeared in the beyond, and was but the mirage of the desert; To you, who thought you had found it in some great teacher, who was perhaps the acknowledged head of some Society, Fraternity or Religion, and who appeared to you to be a "Master," so marvelous was the wisdom he taught and the works he performed; only to awaken later to the realization that that "Master" was but a human personality, with faults and weaknesses, and secret sins, the same as you, even though that personality may have been a channel through which were voiced many beautiful teachings, which seemed to you the highest "Truth;"
And here you are, Soul aweary and enhungered, and not knowing where to turn To you, I AM come.
Likewise to you, who have begun to feel the presence of that "Truth" within your Soul, and seek the confirmation of that which of late has been vaguely struggling for living expression within;
Yes, to all you who hunger for the true "Bread of Life," I AM come.
Are you ready to partake?
If so, then arouse yourself. Sit up. Still your human mind and follow closely My Word herein spoken.
Or you will turn away disappointed once more, with the aching hunger still in your heart.
I!
Who am I?
I, Who speak with such seeming knowledge and authority?
Listen!
I AM You, that part of you who IS and KNOWS; WHO KNOWS ALL THINGS,
And always knew, and always was.
Yes, I AM You, Your SELF; that part of you who says I AM and is I AM;
That transcendent, innermost part of you which quickens within as you read, which responds to this My Word, which perceives Its Truth, which recognizes all Truth and discards all error wherever found. Not that part which has been feeding on error all these years.
For I AM your real Teacher, the only real one you will ever know, and the only MASTER;
I, your Divine SELF.
I, the I AM of you, bring to you this My Message, My living Word, as I have brought to you everything in life, be it book or "Master" to teach you that I and I alone, your own True Self, AM The Teacher for you, the only Teacher and the only God, Who is and always has been providing you not only with the Bread and Wine of Life, but with all things needed for your physical, mental and spiritual growth and sustenance.
Therefore that which appeals to YOU, as you read, is MY Message, spoken to your outer human consciousness from within, and is but a confirmation of that which the I AM of you always knew within, but had not yet translated in definite, tangible terms to your outer consciousness.
Likewise, all that ever appealed to You, coming from some outward expression, was but the confirmation of My Word already spoken within. The outward expression was the avenue or means I chose at the time through which to reach and impress your human or self consciousness.
I AM not your human mind, nor its child, the intellect. They are but the expression of your Being, as you are the expression of My Being; they are but phases of your human personality, as You are a phase of My Divine Impersonality. Weigh and study carefully these words.
Rise up and free yourself now and for always from the domination of your personality, with its self-inflated and self-glorifying mind and intellect. For your mind henceforth must be Your servant, and the intellect Your slave, if My Word is to penetrate to your Soul consciousness.
I AM come now to your Soul consciousness, which I have quickened expressly in preparation for the reception of My Word.
Now, if you are strong enough to bear it; If you can put aside all your private personal fancies, beliefs and opinions, which are but the rubbish you have gathered from the dumping grounds of others;
If you are strong enough to cast them all away; Then My Word will be to you a source of endless Joy and Blessing. Be prepared to have this personality of yours doubt My Word as you read It all along the way; For its very life is threatened, and it knows it cannot live and thrive and longer dominate your thinking, your feelings, your going and coming, as of old, if you take My Word into your heart and permit It there to abide. Yes, I AM come to you now, To make you conscious of My Presence; For I have likewise prepared your human mind so that it can, in a measure, comprehend the meaning of Me. I have been with you always, but you did not know it.
I have purposely led you through the Wilderness of books and teaching, of religions and philosophies, keeping ever before your Soul's eye the vision of the Promised Land; feeding you with the manna of the Desert, that you might remember and value and long for the Bread of the Spirit.
Now I have brought you to the river Jordan that separates you from your Divine heritage. Now the time has come for you consciously to know Me; the time has come for you to cross over into Canaan, the land of Milk and Honey.
Are you ready?
Do you want to go?
Then follow this My Word, which is the Ark of My Covenant, and you shall go over dry shod.
Chapter 2 Be Still and Know
Now, in order that you may learn to know Me, so that you can be sure it is I, you own True Self, Who speak these words, you must first learn to Be Still, to quiet your human mind and body and all their activities, so that you no longer are conscious of them.
You may not yet be able to do this, but I will teach you how, if you really want to know Me, and are willing to prove it by trusting Me and obeying Me in all that I now shall call upon you to do. Listen!
Try to imagine the "I" who speaks throughout these pages as being your Higher or Divine Self, addressing and counseling your human mind and intellect, which you will consider for the moment as being a separate personality. Your human mind is so constituted that it cannot accept anything which does not conform with what it has previously experienced or learned, and which its intellect does not consider reasonable. Therefore, in addressing it, You are using such terms and expressions as will most clearly explain to your intellect the truths it must understand before the mind can awaken to the consciousness of your meaning.
The fact is, this "I" is yourself, your Real Self. Your human mind has heretofore been so engrossed with the task of supplying its intellect and body with all manner of selfish indulgences, that it has never had time to get acquainted with the Real You, its true Lord and Master. You have been so interested in and affected by the pleasures and sufferings of your body and intellect, that you have almost come to believe You are your intellect and body, and you have consequently nearly forgotten Me, your Divine Self.
I AM not your intellect and body, and this Message is to teach that You and I are One. The words I herein speak, and the main burden of these instructions, is to awaken your consciousness to this great fact.
You cannot awaken to this fact until you can get away from the consciousness of this body and intellect, which so long have held you enslaved. You must feel Me within, before you can know I AM there.
Now, in order that you can become wholly oblivious of your mind and its thoughts and your body and its sensations, so that you can feel Me within, it is necessary that you studiously obey these, My instructions.
Sit quietly in a relaxed position, and, when wholly at ease, let your mind take in the significance of these words:
"Be still!- And KNOW- I AM God."
Without thinking, allow this, My Divine Command, to penetrate deep into your Soul. Let whatever impressions that come to your mind enter at will without effort or interference on your part. Note carefully their import, for it is I, within, through these impressions, instructing you. Then, when somewhat of their vital significance begins to dawn upon your consciousness, speak these My Words slowly, imperatively, to every cell of your body, to every faculty of your mind, with all the conscious power you possess: "
Be still! - and KNOW- I AM God."
Speak them just as they are herein written, trying to realize that the God of you commands and demands of your mortal self implicit obedience. Study them, search out their hidden potency. Brood over them, carry them with you into your work, whatever it be. Make them the vital, dominating factor in your work, in all your creative thoughts.
Say them a thousand times a day, Until you have discovered all My innermost meaning;
Until every cell of your body thrills in joyful response to the command, "Be Still," and instantly obeys;
And every vagrant thought hovering around your mind hides itself off into nothingness.
Then, as the Words reverberate through the caverns of your now empty being;
Then, as the Sun of Knowing begins to rise on the horizon of your consciousness; Then, will you feel the swell of a wondrous strange Breath filling you to the extreme of all your mortal members, causing your senses almost to burst with the ecstasy of it; then, will there come surge after surge of a mighty, resistless Power rising within you, lifting you almost off the earth; then, will you feel within the Glory, the Holiness, the Majesty of My Presence; And then, then you will KNOW, I AM, God.
You, when you have felt Me thus in such moments within, when you have tasted of My Power, hearkened to My Wisdom, and know the ecstasy of My all-embracing Love, no disease can touch, no circumstance can weaken, no enemy can conquer you. For now you KNOW I AM within, and you always hereafter will turn to Me in your need, putting all your trust in Me, and allowing Me to manifest My Will.
You, when you turn thus to Me, will always find Me an unfailing and ever-present help in time of need; for I will so fill you with a Realization of My Presence and of My Power, that you need only Be Still and allow Me to do whatever you want done heal your ills and those of others, illumine your mind so you can see with My eyes the Truth you seek, or perform perfectly the tasks which before seemed almost impossible of accomplishment. This Knowledge, this Realization, will not come at once. It may not come for years. It may come tomorrow.
It depends upon no one but You; Not upon your personality, with its human desires and human understanding;
But upon the I AM of you - God, within.
Who is it that causes the bud to open into the blossom?
Who causes the chick to burst its shell?
Who decides the day and the hour?
It is the conscious, natural act of the Intelligence within, My Intelligence, directed by My Will, bringing to fruition My Idea and expressing it in the blossom and in the chick.
But did the blossom and the chick have anything to do with it?
No, only as they submitted or united their will with Mine and allowed Me and My Wisdom to determine the hour and the ripeness for action, and then only as they obeyed the impulse of My Will to make the effort, could they step forth into the New Life.
You may, with your personality, try a thousand times a thousand times to burst through the shell of your human consciousness.
It will result only, if at all, in a breaking down of the doors I have provided between the world of tangible forms and the real of intangible dreams; and the door being open, you then no longer can keep out intruders from your private domain, without much trouble and suffering.
But even through such suffering you may gain the strength you lack and the wisdom needed to know that, not until you yield up all desire for knowledge, for goodness, yes, for union with Me, to benefit self, can you unfold your petals showing forth the perfect Beauty of My Divine Nature, and throw off the shell of your human personality and step forth into the glorious Light of My Heavenly Kingdom.
Therefore I give you these directions now, at the beginning, that you may be learning how to recognize Me.
For I here promise you, if you follow and strive earnestly to comprehend and obey My instructions herein given, you shall very soon know Me, and I will give you to comprehend all of My Word wherever written, in book or teaching, in Nature, or in your fellow man.
If there is much in what herein is written that seems contradictory, seek out My real meaning before discarding it.
Do not leave a single paragraph, or any one thought in it, until all that is suggested becomes clear.
But in all your seeking and all your striving, let it be with faith and trust in Me, your True Self within, and without being anxious about results; for the results are all in My keeping, and I will take care of them. Your doubts and your anxiety are but of the personality, and if allowed to persist will lead only to failure and disappointment.
Chapter 3 I, Life, God
If that which you have read has awakened a response within, and the Soul of you yearns for more, then you are ready for what follows.
If you still question or rebel at the seeming assumption of Divine authority for what is herein written, your intellect telling you it is but another attempt to beguile your mind with cunning suggestion and subtle sophistry, then you will receive no benefit from these words; for their meaning is as yet hidden from your mortal consciousness, and My Word must come to you through other avenues of expression.
It is well if your personality with its intellect impels you thus to question and rebel against authority you do not yet know to be Mine. It is really I Who cause your personality thus to rebel; for your personality with its proud sense of individuality is still needed by Me to develop a mind and body strong enough that they can perfectly express Me. Until you have become prepared to know Me it is but natural for your personality thus to question and rebel. Once you recognize My Authority, that moment the undermining of the authority of the personality has begun. The days of its dominion are numbered, and you will more and more turn to Me for help and guidance.
Therefore, be not dismayed. Read on, and mayhap the recognition will come. But know that you can read or not, as you choose; but if you do it is really I Who choose, and not you.
For you, who seemingly choose not to read further, I have plans, and in due season you shall learn that whatever you do, or like, or desire, it is I leading you through all the fallacies and illusions of the personality, that you may finally awaken to their unreality and then turn to Me as the one and only Reality. Then these words will find a response within:
"Be still! - and KNOW - I AM God."
Yes, I AM that innermost part of you that sits within, and calmly waits and watches, knowing neither time nor space; for I AM the Eternal and fill all space. I watch and wait for you to be done with your petty human follies and weaknesses, with your vain longings, ambitions and regrets, knowing that will come in time; and then you will turn to Me, weary, discouraged, empty and humble, and ask Me to take the lead, not realizing that I have been leading you all the time. Yes, I sit here within, quietly waiting for this; yet while waiting it was really I Who directed all your ways, Who inspired all your thoughts and acts, impersonally utilizing and manipulating each so as eventually to bring you and My other human expressions to a final conscious recognition of Me.
Yes, I have been within always, deep within your heart. I have been with you through all, through your joys and heartaches, your successes and mistakes, through your evildoing, your shame, your crimes against your brother and against God, as you thought.
Aye, whether you went straight ahead, or strayed aside, or stepped backward, it was I Who brought you through.
It was I Who urged you on by the glimpse of Me in the dim distance. It was I Who lured you by a vision of Me in some bewitching face, or beautiful body, or intoxicating pleasure, or overpowering ambition.
It was I Who appeared before you within the garb of Sin, or Weakness, or Greed, or Sophistry, and drove you back into the arms of Conscience, leaving you to struggle in its shadowy grasp; until you awakened to its impotence, rose up in disgust, and in the inspiration of a new vision tore off My mask.
Yes, it is I Who cause you to do all things, and if you can see it, it is I Who do all things that you do, and all things that your brother does; for that in you and in him which IS, is I, My Self. For I AM LIFE.
