Tableau 6

The tableau for this lesson is:

| 8 | 9 | 10 | | 11 | 12 | 13 |

Arranged as a magic square, adding to 27 in every direction, it becomes:

You have probably noticed that the summation of these magic squares increases by 3. Thus the tableau given in Lesson 3, arranged in magical form adds up to 12; that in Lesson 4 to 15; that in Lesson 5 to 18; that in Lesson 6 to 21; that in Lesson 7 to 24; and that in this lesson to 27. When the constant summation of a magic square is a number which appears on a Tarot Key, as 12, 15, 18, 21, we take that Key as representing the main idea symbolized by the square. When the summation is a number greater than 21, as 24, 27, or 30, we add together the digits of that number, and the resulting number is taken as being that of the Tarot Key which represents the main idea of the whole square. Thus the number 24, which is the constant summation of the square given in Lesson 7, gives 6 as the sum of its digits, and Key 6 represents the main idea of the whole square in Lesson 7. So in this lesson, the sum of the digits of 27 is 9, and Key 9 is the symbol of the main idea behind the whole doctrine of this lesson.

Your studies in the first Section have taught you that the letter YOD, signifying the open hand of man, is the clue to all the meanings of the HERMIT. Among those meanings is this: All the actions of man, all the works of human hands, are really expressions of the power of the One Identity. We do nothing of our own power, because in truth we have no power of our own. No power belongs to us. We are agencies for the distribution of the limitless spiritual energy of the universe. Our personal activities are really governed by the Law of Response. We do not act of ourselves. We react to the impulses that come down to us from the heights of Spirit. Those impulses are symbolized in Key 9 by the light in the HERMIT'S lantern.

The greater number of human beings leaves the power of Spirit out of their reckoning. Supposing themselves to be operating, so to say, by their own energies, they limit their ideas of the power at their disposal to the forces of their own bodies, and the resources of their visible possessions. They leave entirely out of account the most important part of human equipment, the real presence of the Infinite Spirit in every human personality. Human personality is truly the temple or abiding place of the living God. Every one of us has all the resources of Infinite Spirit to draw upon.

The first of these resources is the omniscience of the Life-Power. The Spirit dwelling within us knows everything. For it, there are no problems, no veils of ignorance and darkness. Yet one of the commonest assertions of the average human being is 'I don't know.' The lack of knowledge of what to do, of how to meet an emergency, of where means are to be found to carry out some undertaking – all such are purely personal deficiencies. They can be met by us when we realize that specific knowledge adequate for our every need is always at our disposal, whenever we put ourselves in a position to receive the instruction of the Inner Voice. As usual with the most important things in our lives, the process is simple. We need only to confess our ignorance, and listen for instruction, maintaining the mental attitude of confident expectation that our listening will enable us to hear the right answer. Here the Law of Response is clearly at work. Our listening is really a conscious reaction to our knowledge that there is a Voice to instruct us. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” (Isaiah 30.21) For the Wayshower holds always his light on high to illumine our path, and his Voice is ever ready with wise counsel for those who attend to and obey the instruction. This is the way which leads, through the full fruition of our inherent possibilities, to release, even from the bondage of death. (Keys 5, 9, 13)

Remember, the power of Infinite Spirit enters into your Life through two channels. These are the activities of your conscious and subconscious minds. Your conscious thinking, feeling, planning, and desiring are as truly particular expressions of the One Life-Power as are the wonderful resources of your sub-consciousness. The Life-Power enables you to read and understand these words. The Life-Power is the energy expressed in all your voluntary actions, just as truly as it is the source of your involuntary or subconscious activities. Your sub-consciousness is the channel through which you make contact with the super-conscious levels of the Life-

Power’s activity. Your conscious mind cannot bear the dazzling light of super-consciousness, but must receive that light in a form tempered and modified by its passage through sub-consciousness. But it is only when you have released sub-consciousness from being dominated by the conscious mind that you get the best results. This is the removal of the curse of Eve, to whom it was said: “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” The curse is not removed, however, by any process designed to let sub-consciousness dominate self-consciousness. Not a few plausible theories have been advanced to the effect that all human difficulties are due to restrictions put upon the free play of sub-consciousness by the inhibiting power of the self-conscious mind. Sub-consciousness is not competent to direct our lives, but it is competent to act as the agency through which the actual directive power may be fully manifest in our experience. In effect we say to our sub-consciousness: “I recognize your function as agent for the influx of the infinite resources of super-consciousness into my life. I renounce all personal dominance over your activities, and turn over your entire operation to the guidance of Infinite Spirit. Henceforth you will not be subject to me, nor to my partial knowledge of the Way of Life. You are the open channel through which the limitless potencies of the Life-Power are placed at my disposal. You are under Its all-wise direction. You reject all suggestions of error which may result from my partial knowledge.” To say this is really to put one’s whole life at the disposal of the Universal Life. It is to surrender completely and confidently every detail of one’s affairs to the wise guidance of Universal Being. (Keys 6, 9, 12)

There are two ways of looking at Infinite Spirit. One is expressed by the noun “immanence,” and is represented by Key 7, which shows Infinite Spirit as the ever-victorious rider in the vehicle of human personality. The other is expressed by the noun “transcendence,” and is symbolized by Key 9, which shows Infinite Spirit as a power dwelling far above the level of human personality. Yet these two ideas are not really exclusive, the one of the other. The Life-Power is above and beyond all that we know or experience at the personal level. Its presence fills the entire universe. There is nowhere that it is not. There is no manifestation of energy that is not dependent upon it. As an ancient seer declared: “It is too high for me, I cannot attain to it.” Yet at the same time this very quality of omnipresence makes the immanence of Spirit inevitable. Since there is nowhere that It is not, the consequence is that it must be here. The Master of our destinies is with us always. Thus, all the resources of the Infinite are truly at hand for every one of us, and at all times. And since we have already seen that sub-consciousness is the channel by means of which the powers of Spirit enter the field of human personality, it follows that sub-consciousness is the means whereby all the circumstances of our lives are now perfectly adjusted. All appearances of injustice and unbalance are due to our imperfect personal knowledge. Relatively, of course, there are what we call maladjustments, such as poverty, misery, or ill-health. But the Ageless Wisdom declares that all these painful limitations are educative. Pain, whatever forms it takes, prods us into search for release from suffering. As Henry Wood used to say, “Pain is friendly.” Thus, even when we are not yet sufficiently skilled in our application of the laws of life, so that we are invariably surrounded by the outward evidences of success, it is profitable to use our statement: 'I recognize the manifestation of the undeviating Justice in all the circumstances of my life.' (Keys 7, 9, 11)

Ageless Wisdom also declares that all the subhuman phases of the Life-Power's activity are at all times under the control of the human manifestations of subconsciousness. We do not have to bring them under control. They are continually under control. That is to say, the response of the subhuman levels of life-expression to states of human sub-consciousness is invariable and automatic. The subhuman levels always reflect our subconscious mental states. They cannot help doing so. Thus, even when they seem to be most adverse to us and to our aspirations, they are simply responding to the actual states of our own minds. If we change the mental states, the responses will change, too. Hence, from the moment we begin to realize that our lives are under the guidance of Infinite Spirit, all those subhuman phases of life-expression which constitute our environment will begin to reflect that realization. It will appear to ourselves and others that things have begun to work for us, instead of against us. What really occurs is that we have identified ourselves with the integrative or up-building phases of the Life-Power's action. We go with the current of the Life-Power, instead of against it. By the reversal of our mental attitude we experience what seems to be a reversal of conditions. In reality, all the sequences of the Life-Power's manifestation move on just as they did before, for 'with Him there is not variableness, neither shadow or turning.' The change is in ourselves. (Key 8, 9, 10)

The whole matter depends upon our establishing the habit of listening expectantly to the Inner Voice. That Voice is not loud. It is a “still, small voice,” so that we must listen attentively before we can hear it. We must bear always in mind the fact that harmony between the conscious and subconscious elements of our personality is brought about by releasing sub-consciousness from the domination of our limited conscious knowledge, which release is affected by deliberately surrendering ourselves to the direction of Universal Spirit. We must practice thinking of that Spirit as an immediate presence in our lives, until practice has made the thought “second nature.” Then we shall always be receptive to the guidance of the One Identity, and our daily experience will be a demonstration of the power of that One Spirit to turn all things to beautiful results. (Keys 5, 6. 7)

Meditations

FIRST DAY: 5, 9, 13. Infinite Spirit has no problems. It sees clearly just what I must do this day. It stimulates my imagination to change even the structure of my body so that it may respond more easily to the impulses of the One Life. INSTRUCTED BY THE ALL KNOWING MIND, OVERSHADOWED BY OMNIPOTENCE ITSELF, I MOVE ON THIS DAY TOWARD THE GOAL OF PERFECT REALIZATION.

SECOND DAY: 6, 9, 12. My subconscious mind is the open channel through which the limitless potencies of Universal Spirit are at my disposal. The Hand of the Eternal leads me. I depend utterly upon the firm support of the

One Reality. CONSCIOUS HARMONY, THE CERTAINTY OF GUIDANCE, AND THE FIRM ASSURANCE OF ADEQUATE SUPPORT ARE MINE NOW.

THIRD DAY: 7, 9, 11. The Divine Self is not far off; it is a real presence in my life. Yet is its power beyond all human limits, and above all human attainments. And its Perfect Law adjusts every detail of my life-expression today. CLOSER THAN HANDS OR FEET IS THE ONE IDENTITY WHICH NOW IS ALL THAT I HOPE TO BECOME, AND THIS ONE LIFE DIRECTS ALL MY ACTION NOW.

FOURTH DAY: 8, 9, 10. Human life has automatic dominion over everything below it in the scale of evolution. Human personality is the agency of the Master of the Universe. The cycles of cosmic transformation work with and for me because I know this truth. MINE IS THE IN-EXHAUSTABLE STRENGTH OF LIMITLESS POWER, MINE THE SURE KNOWLEDGE OF THE KNOWER OF ALL, MINE THE PERFECTION OF THE UNIVERSAL MECHANISM.

FIFTH DAY: 5, 6, 7. The Voice that instructs me is not loud, but its message is clear. Its instruction establishes harmony between my conscious and subconscious minds. My thought and words express its Perfect Wisdom. TAUGHT BY THE DIVINE MIND, HARMONIZED BY ITS HEALING INFLUENCE, MY LIFE TODAY IS A MANIFESTATION OF ITS UNFAILING SUCCESS.

SIXTH DAY: 11, 12, 13. The Law works for me, as I work with it. I am firm in my knowledge that the One Life is my perfect support. Even the “last enemy” is in truth my friend. MY FAITH IS STRENGTHENED TODAY, FOR I SURRENDER ALL THINGS TO THE ONE LIFE, AND SEE THAT LIFE AT WORK IN ALL THE CHANGING CONDITIONS ABOUT ME.