The Power of Awareness
| Chapter 18 |
BE YE DOERS
Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continue therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James 1:22-25
THE WORD in this quotation means idea, concept, or desire. You deceive yourself by "hearing only" when you expect your desire to be fulfilled through mere wishful thinking. Your desire is what you want to be, and looking at yourself "in a glass" is seeing yourself in imagination as that person.
Forgetting "what manner of man" you are is failing to persist in your assumption. The "perfect law of liberty" is the law which makes possible liberation from limitation, that is, the law of assumption.
To continue in the perfect law of liberty is to persist in the assumption that your desire is already fulfilled.
You are not a "forgetful hearer" when you keep the feeling of your wish fulfilled constantly alive in your consciousness.
This makes you a "doer of the work", and you are blessed in your deed by the inevitable realization of your desire.
You must be doers of the law of assumption, for without application, the most profound understanding will not produce any desired result.
Frequent reiteration and repetition of important basic truths runs through these pages.
Where the law of assumption is concerned – the law that sets man free – this is a good thing. It should be made clear again and again even at the risk of repetition.
The real truth-seeker will welcome this aid in concentrating his attention upon the law which sets him free.
The parable of the Master's condemnation of the servant who neglected to use the talent given him [Matthew 25:14-30] is clear and unmistakable.
Having discovered within yourself the key to the Treasure House, you should be like the good servant who, by wise use, multiplied by many times the talents entrusted to him. The talent entrusted to you is the power to consciously determine your assumption.
The talent not used, like the limb not exercised, withers and finally atrophies.
What you must strive after is being.
In order to do, it is necessary to be. The end of yearning is to be.
Your concept of yourself can only be driven out of consciousness by another concept of yourself.
By creating an ideal in your mind, you can identify yourself with it until you become one and the same with the ideal, thereby transforming yourself into it.
The dynamic prevails over the static; the active over the passive.
One who is a doer is magnetic and therefore infinitely more creative than any who merely hear. Be among the doers.
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