Nuggets of the New Thought: Several Things That Have Helped People — John Shaqi
Nuggets of the New Thought: Several Things That Have Helped PeopleAtkinson, William Walker
Philosophy
Nuggets of the New Thought: Several Things That Have Helped People
Atkinson, William Walker
New Thought
I hear some of you talking about Death. You seem to think that you
will be another order of being as soon as you take your last breath
upon earth. You talk about being a "spirit," bye-and-bye. Do I believe
this? Of course, I believe it. I _know_ it. But I also know something
else, and that is that you are a spirit now, just as much as you will
be in another world. Did you think that some wonderful essence was
going to grow from you, and that that essence would be what you call a
spirit? Nonsense! YOU are the spirit, and the not-you part which will
be discarded never was you. The You which says I AM is the real
thing--the real self--and the rest of you is but tools and instruments
which YOU are using. Why can't you see this? You talk about "my soul,"
"my spirit," and so on. You make me tired. Why, the thing which is
thinking and speaking--YOU--is the "soul" or "spirit" of which you are
talking. You talk as if the physical part of you, which is changing
continually, was you. You are like the boy with the old knife. He was
continually having the knife repaired. He had had seven new blades and
three new handles put on it, and yet it was the same old knife. Why,
you could step right out of your body (and maybe you do, more than you
have any idea of) and it would be the same old YOU. You could discard
your body just as you do your clothes, and yet YOU would be the same
individual. There is a wonderful difference between individuality and
personality. One you cannot get rid of; the other may be changed.
What's the use in being afraid? Nobody can hurt the real YOU. You
cannot be wiped out of existence. If a single spirit atom should be
destroyed, the entire structure would smash up. You cannot be banished
from the Universe, for there's nowhere else to put you. You cannot get
outside of the Universe, for _there's no outside_. There's no place
for you outside of everywhere.
And you talk about time and eternity. Why, you're in eternity right
now. You are right in it this moment. It is always to-day--to-morrow
never comes. And you are right at home in the Universe, and always
will be. You are always there, for there's nowhere else to go.
So what's the use in being afraid? Who's going to hurt you? They
can't kill YOU. They can't put you out of existence. They cannot
expel you from the Universe. So what are they going to do about it
anyhow? And, after all, who are "They?" You talk as if there were
outside forces and influences antagonistic to you. Outside of
what? No matter what beings of earth or air there may be, they
are creatures like yourself. They are all a part of the Whole
Thing--all made of the same material--all come from the hand of
the same maker--you are all cut from the same piece of goods. The
apparent differences are illusions--the difference and separateness
is only relative, and not actual.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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