What I Believe . . . Today

Hello all! What a wonderful day this has been! What a wonderful week! (What a wonderful life!) So, "All is well!" (from the LDS Hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints"). So what is the source of all of this content? It is a knowledge of how things work - or, at least, a belief in how they work. Many things we know, but frequently we are just giving "our best shot."

I don't say any of this with any degree of remorse or skepticism. I am simply acknowledging that very often we jare just going with our best theory - but that's okay! Interspersed with what we believe to be true, there is no doubt much that is true. In the interim, we simply keep studying, and observing, and pondering, and lo and behold, our knowledge of truth grows! So "It's all good!" (My slogan. My motto is: Be the best that you [and I] can be!" - adopted from the now-familiar US Army recruitment statement.)

With that introduction, I will here confess that this post is an experiment. I have no specific subject in mind, but I wanted to see what might "come forth." I have been reading a short book by Genevieve Behrend, a pupil or disciple of Thomas Troward. It is entitled "Attaining Your Desires - By Letting Your Subconscious Mind Work for You" (Originally Published by THE ELIZABETH TOWNE COMPANY, Incorporated. HOLYOKE, MASS., U.S.A. Originally Copyrighted, 1929). It has recently been re-released by Joe Vitale, and he is offering it as a free e-book. (You may email me at tmbj@cox.net, and I will make it available to you.)

As the title indicates, the book is about using your mind (conscious and subconscious) to attain your desires. In brief, it is about how to "materialize" your thoughts, or bring about that which you choose to think about. (The subconscious - and "semi-conscious" for those who have read my own book The Secret of Life - play an essential role in the creative process, but it all starts with the thoughts that we consciously select in the present moment.)

One of the early theses in Ms. Behrend's book is that everything exists is a result of thought. In my book I refer to this as the Law of Thought or the Law of Creation. Everything begins or is conceived as a thought. I even discuss that word, "conceived," in some detail. A spiritual creation - which could also be referred to or described as a mental creation - comes "full term" in the mind - probably in the subconscious.

For this to occur, however, there must first be a thought "conception," where a conscious thought is corroborated or affirmed by the ever-willing "subjective" mind - our subconscious, whose job it is to be "subject to" the "objective" mind, and to carry out its every command, or desire - or even its every intention.

After the initial conception wherein the initial (conscious) thought is "joined to" or "united with" the corroborating thought vibration of the subconscious, there must follow a nurturing or nourishing of the now-"fertilized" egg (or thought seed) - just as with a "physical" conception. In the case of a positive spiritual or thought conception, that nourishment is in the form of light or energy - what the scriptures call "intelligence, or the light of truth" (D&C 93:29). (In the case of a negative thought conception, the thought is nourished by additional negative thoughts or thought energy - supplied by both our own ["semi-conscious"]beliefs and conscious [negative] thoughts, and those that we attract from the many negative sources that may us.)

The prophet Alma describes this process in some detail, albeit through a slightly different analogy. (As you will see, however, some of the elements are similar, if not identical.)

28 Now we will compare the word unto a seed. Now if ye give place, that a seed be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell [or grow] within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves - It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my sould; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

Alma 32

Alma is here talking about experimenting with an idea or a belief, to see if it is true (or if it will grow). Because ideas are thoughts, his analogy is closely related to my own. Alma is simply pointing out that an idea or belief can be "planted" (in the "heart" in this case), and if it is "good," it will "swell" or grow - if one does not "cast it out by [his] unbelief, that [he] will resist the Spirit of the Lord."

This is precisely what I am suggesting happens with any positive thought conception: If we do not “cast it out by [our] unbelief,” it will grow. (I must point out that if our thought conception is negative, it too will grow, if we “believe” the negative thought. It too will materialize!) It is instructional that Alma equates “cast[ing] [the growing thought seed] out by . . . unbelief” with "resist[ing] the Spirit of the Lord." Let us examine why the two are equal.

Our natural state is to be in connection with our source, God. Christ said in John:

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

John 15

So we "abide" in Christ. He is the "vine;" we are the "branches." He is also (literally) "the life of men and the light of men" (D&C 93:9). So while "the natural man is an enemy to God" (Mosiah 3:19), it is our natural or, at least, original state to be connected to him. Returning to D&C 93:

10 The worlds were made by him, men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him.

And corroborating and expanding on this D&C 88:

6 He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;

7 Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.

8 As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made;

9 As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made.

10 And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand.

13 The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God . . . .

So, it would appear that He, Christ, or his "light," at least, is what "all things" - including us - are made of. If we go back to Section 93, we read:

29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.

So looking closer, it appears that both we and God are made of the same thing: "intelligence, or the light of truth."

We might then ask: How can one connect to or 'abide in' Christ (or God the Father)? Let us return once more to Section 88:

11 And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings.

12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space -

13 The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God . . . .

So, when a thought conception takes place, it can only come "full term" by being nurtured by this light "Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space." In other words, we are not only made of this light, we are immersed in it. As we have read, it is both "the life of men and "the light of men" (D&C 93:9). If we are severed from it we "are cast forth as a branch...and withered" (John 15:6). And how do we do this? By "unbelief" wherein we "resist the Spirit of the Lord" - just as Alma explained (Alma 32:28).

And now you know how thought conception takes place - as well as how certain thoughts (or desires) are aborted or "cast out by our unbelief" so that they do not grow to maturity. Faith enables our natural connection to the life-giving light, while disbelief cuts us off from that source.

And now you also know why Paul said: "Without faith, it is impossible to please [God]" (Hebrews 11:6). Next time we'll talk more about how these spiritual conceptions - and ultimately spiritual creations - turn into physical creations. The key is in understanding that everything, both spiritual (thought) and physical, is made of energy or intelligence (D&C 88:13). This is the Law of Composition; and finally, we have the Law of Attraction - which gives you some idea of how (vibrating) thoughts (energy, or intelligence) of a particular "kind," would attract vibrating "matter" of a similar kind. And that is what I believe . . . today!