The following is chapter four of the book The Impersonal Life, by Joseph S. Benner, originally published many decades ago. The video is the reading of the book.  You may prefer to listen and follow.  Other chapters will follow.

 

Yes, I know the many mixed thoughts that have been crowding into your mind as you read, -- the doubts and eager questionings, the vague fear that imperceptibly changed into a growing hope that this glimmering of My Meaning, which has begun to penetrate the darkness of your human intellect, may shine brighter so you can see clearly the Truth which you instinctively feel is hidden beneath My Words.

Again I say, this I AM speaking herein is the Real Self of you, and in reading these words it is necessary that you realize it is You, your own Self, that is speaking them to your human consciousness, in order fully to comprehend their meaning.

I also repeat, this is the same I AM that is the Life and Spirit animating all living things in the Universe, from the tiniest atom to the greatest Sun; that this I AM is the Intelligence in you and in your brother and sister; and that it is likewise the Intelligence which causes everything to live and grow and become that which it is their destiny to be.

Perhaps you cannot yet understand how this I AM can be, at one and the same time, the I AM of you and the I AM of your brother, and also the Intelligence of the stone, the plant, and the animal.

You will see this, however, if you follow these My Words and obey the instructions herein given; for I will soon bring to your consciousness a Light that will illumine the deepest recesses of your mind and drive away all the clouds of human misconceptions, ideas and opinions that now darken your intellect, -- if you read on and strive earnestly to comprehend My Meaning.

So listen carefully.

I AM You, the Real Self of you, All that you really are. That which you think you are, you are not. That is only an illusion, a shadow of the Real You, which is I, your Immortal, Divine Self.

I AM that point of consciousness focalized in your human mind which calls itself "I". I AM that "I", but that which you call your consciousness is in reality My Consciousness, thinned down to suit the capacity of your human mind. It is still My Consciousness, and when you can drive from your mind all its human misconceptions, ideas and opinions, and can cleanse and empty it utterly, so that My Consciousness can have a chance to express freely, then you will recognize

Me and you will know that you are nothing -- being only a focal center of My Consciousness, an avenue of medium through which I can express My meaning -- in matter.

Perhaps you cannot see this yet, and of course cannot believe it until I fully prepare your mind by convincing your intellect of its truth.

You have been told that each cell of your body has a consciousness and an intelligence of its own; that were it not for this consciousness it could not do the work it so intelligently does.

Each cell is surrounded by millions of other cells, each intelligently doing its own work and each evidently controlled by the united consciousness of all these cells, forming a group intelligence, which directs and controls this work; this group intelligence apparently being the intelligence of the organ which the cells comprising it form. Likewise, there are other group intelligences in other organs, each containing other millions of cells, and all these organs make up your physical body.

Now, you know You are the Intelligence that directs the work of the organs of your body, whether this directing is done consciously or unconsciously; and that each cell of each organ is really a focal center of this directing Intelligence; and that when this Intelligence is withdrawn the cells fall apart, your physical body dies and exists no more as a living organism.

Who is this You who directs and controls the activities of your organs, and consequently of each cell composing them?

You cannot say it is your human or personal self who does this, for you of yourself consciously can control the action of scarcely a single organ of your body.

It must then be this Impersonal I AM of you, which is You, and yet is not you.

Listen!

You, the I AM of you, are to Me what the cell consciousness of your body is to your I AM Consciousness.

You are a cell, as it were, of My Body, and your consciousness (as one of My Cells) is to Me what the consciousness of one of the cells of your body is to You.

Therefore, it must be that the consciousness of the cell of your body is My Consciousness, even as your consciousness is My Consciousness; and therefore We must be One in consciousness -- the cell, You and I.

You cannot now consciously direct or control a single cell of your body; but when you can at will enter into the Consciousness of the I AM of you and know its identity with Me, then you can control not only every cell of your body, but that of any other body you might wish to control.

What happens when your consciousness no longer controls the cells of your body? The body disintegrates, the cells separate, and their work for the time being is finished. But do the cells die or lose consciousness? No, they simply sleep or rest for a period, and after a while unite with other cells and form new combinations, and sooner or later appear in other manifestations of life, -- perhaps mineral, perhaps vegetable, perhaps animal; showing that they still retain their original consciousness and but await the action of My Will to join together in a new organism to do the work of the new consciousness through which I desire to manifest.

Then apparently this cell consciousness is a consciousness common to all bodies, -- mineral, vegetable, animal, human, -- each cell fitted perhaps by experience for a certain general kind of work?

Yes, this cell consciousness is common to every cell of every body, no matter what its kind, because it is an Impersonal consciousness, having no purpose other than doing the work allotted it. It lives only to work wherever needed. When through with building one form, it takes up the work of building another, under whatever consciousness I desire it to serve.

Thus it is likewise with you.

You, as one of the cells of My Body, have a consciousness that is My Consciousness, an intelligence that is My Intelligence, even a will that is My Will. You have none of these for yourself or of yourself. They are all Mine and for My use only.

Now, My consciousness and My Intelligence and My Will are wholly Impersonal, and therefore are common with you and with all the cells of My Body, even as they are common with all the cells of your body.

I AM the directing Intelligence of All, the animating Spirit, the Life, the Consciousness of all matter, of all Substance. If you can see it, You, the Real you, the Impersonal you, are in all and are one with all, are in Me and are one with Me; just as I AM in you and in all, and thereby am expressing My Reality through you and through all.

This will, which you call your will, is likewise no more yours personally than is this

consciousness and this intelligence of your mind and of the cells of your body yours.

It is but that small portion of My Will which I permit the personal you to use. Just as fast as you awaken to recognition of a certain power or faculty within you and begin consciously to use it, do I allow you that much more of My Infinite Power.

All power and its use is but so much recognition and understanding of the use of My Will.

Your will and all your powers are only phases of My Will, which I supply to suit your capacity to use it.

Were I to entrust you with the full power of My Will, before you know how consciously to use it, it would annihilate your body utterly.

To test your strength and more often to show you what the misuse of My Power does to you, I at times allow you to commit a sin, so-called, or to make a mistake. I even permit you to become inflated with the sense of My Presence within you, when It manifests as a consciousness of My Power, My Intelligence, My Love; and I let you take these and use them for your own personal purposes. But not for long -- for, not being strong enough to control them, they soon take the bit in their teeth, run away with you, throw you down in the mire, and disappear from your consciousness for the time being.

Always I AM there to pick you up, after the fall, although you do not know it at the time; first straightening you out and then starting you onward again, by pointing out the reason for your fall; and finally, when you are sufficiently humbled, causing you to see that these powers accruing to you by the conscious use of My Will, My Intelligence and My Love, are allowed you only for use in My Service, and not at all for your own personal ends.

Do the cells of your body, the muscles of your arm, think to set themselves up as having a separate will from your will, or a separate intelligence from your intelligence?

No, they know no intelligence but yours, no will but yours.

After a while it will be that you will realize you are only one of the cells of My Body; and that your will is not your will, but Mine; that what consciousness and what intelligence you have are Mine wholly; and that there is no such person as you, you personally being only a physical form containing a human brain, which I created for the purpose of expressing in matter and Idea, a certain phase of which I could express best only in that particular form.

All this may be difficult for you now to accept, and you may protest very strenuously that it cannot be, that every instinct of your nature rebels against such yielding and subordinating yourself to an unseen and unknown power, however Impersonal or Divine.

Fear not, it is only your personality that thus rebels. If you continue to follow and study My Words, all will soon be made clear, and I will surely open up to your inner understanding many wonderful Truths that now are impossible for you to comprehend. Your Soul will rejoice sing glad praises, and you will bless these words for the message they bring.

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