The Silver Cord Begins To Have Meaning

The  Silver  Cord  Begins  To  Have  Meaning

from  The Life of Victory

Uranda   November 15, 1951

I wish to touch on what we could properly call the key to the life of victory in the divine pattern, the fulfilment toward which you are all looking and toward which you are moving. It would be well for you to remember this key and meditate upon it, especially if there be times of stress in the pattern of the outworking of your lives. The words may be expressed like this: “Let the will of the Father be done under the direction of the Son, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” To the degree that you can abide in the attitude indicated by these words, you will be moving forward effectively. 

As our Master came near to the concluding hours of His ministry on earth He made a very significant statement: “The prince of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in me.” Long ago I pointed out whenever there is an increased manifestation of divine power because we have moved upward along the way, there will tend to be pressures, or backwash, from out of the world because of the reality of increased radiation. We cannot move forward, in the sense of letting the power of God be released into the world, without having some reaction out of the world. When that reaction out of the world comes back to us, when those pressures come back, if there remains in the individual, in the ghost of his being, that subconscious realm of the mind and heart, those things that are of the world, then this backwash, this reactionary pressure from out of the world, will connect up in the individual with that which is not yet what it ought to be and there will be a tendency to have a reaction—a tendency for whatever there is of the ill things remaining to come out. 

The Master said, “The prince of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in me.” He recognized that, while there had been various cycles of reaction from out of the world during the period of His ministry, the full force of that ministry was coming to its climax and the backwash from out of the world would be appearing. It was near at hand. We remember how He began to meet that reactionary vibration of the world in Gethsemane. If it had not been true that the prince of this world could find nothing in Him, the backwash from out of the world would have destroyed Him in that hour in Gethsemane. The meaningfulness of that hour is something that we might well meditate upon, but before we do we need to recognize certain principles in relationship to ourselves. 

When there is the reality of radiation, of the working of the power of the Holy Ghost through you, it tends to cleanse out from you those things that do not belong to you and are not a part of your reality. However, that radiation going on out into the world produces a reaction in the world consciousness and there is a returning cycle. As you remain centered, fully obedient to the One Law according to the two commandments, that backwash cannot upset you, even though the coming of the prince of this world may reveal something in you that belongs to the prince of this world, something that is not of the divine origin. If you allow yourselves to be controlled by these ill things that remain in you and get connected up in the world pattern, you spoil the outworking of the cycle and by such function deny God, betray His trust—and put yourself in a position where you have to go through the process all over again. The process is not, generally speaking, completed in one operation. Cycles of outworking take place. 

We have considered the nature of this subconscious realm, not just the surface aspects of the subconscious, with which the conscious mind is more or less familiar, but the subterranean aspects of mind and heart.  This that has been built through human self-activity, environmental influence, things projected into the subconscious by the mass consciousness, etc., may be called the unholy ghost in the individual. We are supposed to reach a point where we let the Holy Ghost abide in us and work through us, and it is only by reason of the Holy Ghost in us that we have the privilege of sharing on earth the expression of God's power. As long as there is anything which divides this sub-ghost aspect of being from the Father, the power of God cannot be made manifest in reality through the individual. 

Broadly speaking, the expression which appears through the individual mind is that which comes up through the subconscious. The subconscious aspect of the ghost is the realm where there are receptive points to that which is already contained in the subconscious mind. If we project, by study and learning, certain knowledge, certain ideas into the subconscious mind, then there is an orientation point there in the subconscious mind, even though we may say we have forgotten, which gives a connecting link with vibrational factors of the same kind which may be present elsewhere. If that which is in the subconsciousness is right knowledge, then it takes up with like vibrational factors in the subconscious minds of others in the mass consciousness and there is a contact point in the individual which gives him a sense of relatedness to these things. If nothing has been projected into the individual's subconsciousness with respect to something, he has absolutely no sense of relatedness to it until something with respect to that subject has been projected into his subconsciousness. 

The individual sense of relatedness to other things depends upon what is in the subconscious realm of his own heart and mind. If the things that are there are things that ought not to be there—there are plenty of things in the mass consciousness and in the vibrational pattern of others which ought not to be there—that which ought not to be in the individual provides a sense of relatedness with that which ought not to be in the mass consciousness, and under pressure the individual is inclined to react on the basis of these evil spirits of his own ghost aspect of being, and he becomes subject to that. He denies, by his attitude and action, his centering in God. He says all kinds of things that in any rational moment he knows are utterly false. He becomes irrational under the current of these evil spirits in himself which have a relatedness to all kinds of evil spirits, ill attitudes, etc., in the mass consciousness. 

When a process of cleansing begins by the working of the power of God, or the Holy Ghost, these things begin to get dislodged—they begin to stir up and come to the surface. If the mind is in the habit of becoming subject to that which comes out of the subconscious realm, immediately rational function ceases and the reactionary currents from out of the world appear, the prince of this world cometh and findeth something of himself in the individual, and the individual functions on a basis that is utterly contrary to that which he knows to be the truth. 

The guardian angel, the conscious mind, must reach a point where it is not subject to the subconscious aspect, where it stays centered in the Father, so that it is a manifestation of the Son, or the mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then, when something starts boiling and bubbling from the subconscious realm to be cleansed away, the conscious mind is not taken over by the subconscious vibrational pattern. The conscious mind stays centered because it is anchored in the Father. Then, although there is something in the individual which belongs to the prince of this world, the individual does not allow his centering in the Father to be lost and that which is coming out is cast out. If, however, the conscious mind gives way on an emotional reaction of some kind, so that the irrational expression of the subconscious realm takes control, then the prince of this world not only finds something in the individual but reestablishes his control over the individual and anchors that much more solidly in the individual's sub-ghost, and he has to begin the process of cleansing all over again. 

We remember the text in Ecclesiastes 12:6—“Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.” 

Here we have the elements clearly portrayed in relationship to the whole being of man. The silver cord relates to the seven seals, the endocrine system. A part of the endocrine system has direct relationship to the conscious mind, but in the primary sense the silver cord is the instrument of connection between the Father and the sub-ghost in the individual.

Out of the trunk, or stem, of the manifestation of the silver cord in the individual, innumerable rootlets spread in the expression of life from what we might call the body of form of this subconscious aspect of being in heart and mind. Because the emotional current is working through the silver cord in all respects, where it is actually functioning in any ordinary sense, there is that which establishes vibrational contact points. If the individual has some possession, any article which he is very fond of, he develops a sentimental sense of value, and then we see that some rootlet of the silver cord extends to that object. The individual is connected up with it. It has a part of his life force. A rootlet out of this stem connects up with all of those things to which you respond. 

Over and over again I have emphasized to you that, “According to your response, so be it unto you.” A rootlet of the silver cord working through the subconscious realm connects up with anything—an idea, any of the evil spirits of the heart, greed, selfishness, self-centeredness, or any object, or any person. When you respond to something below you, you are connecting up the very center of your life force with that thing and becoming subject to it. Response to that which is below you, response to that which is not of God in your own subconscious realm, makes you subject to such things, and the mind is in the habit of giving way and turning expression and function over to the subconscious mind instead of holding steady and being the guardian angel. 

The subconscious is a mass actually—it has form. To the degree of response, that sends out a rootlet that connects up with that to which the individual responds. However there are rootlets which appear on another basis, on the basis of controlled command. The uncontrolled expression of the individual life results in that which we see out in the world, where these rootlets are distributed indiscriminately. The individual connects up with all sorts of things, feeds his life force into them, becomes subject to them, degenerates and decays—instead of responding one-pointedly to God through the Father. Remember that there is a controlled expression of the rootlets of the silver cord which can extend out on the basis of command, not because you are responding to something out here but because, by the will of the Father, under the direction of the Son, in the power of the Holy Ghost, a connection is made through which the power may flow to do something. There is an interesting key, but do not try to speculate on it too much.  We will get to a consideration of that in due season. 

It is in the subconscious realm that there is memory. If the individual does something which he conceives to be wrong—whether it is wrong or not is beside the point; it may not have been wrong at all but he thought it was wrong according to his mental idea and what had been established in his subconscious realm—and does not really clear it out by repentance and response to God, he covers it up, as the subconscious mind is quick to do. That which it does not like it buries a little bit deeper, gets it away as far as it can in the depths of itself. The moment there is a guilt complex in the subconscious realm, regardless of what the conscious mind thinks, the subconscious mind turns its face away from God and will not look up to Him, no matter what you do. The guilt complex in the subconscious mind keeps it from acknowledging the Father, keeps it from receiving anything from the Father. It is convinced in itself that it is guilty and it is filled with a sense of shame; so it is bowed down and refuses—because there is no logic or reason in it, remember—to receive anything from the Father because it does not think it is worthy, because it is ashamed. 

As long as there is a guilt complex in the subconscious mind it is utterly impossible for that individual to come into a state of oneness with the Father. The individual cannot of himself clear that guilt complex. He must repent and receive forgiveness in a manner which allows the consciousness of that forgiveness to penetrate into the subconscious mind. Then, when the guilt complex is cleared away, the subconscious realm is no longer ashamed before the Lord but is ready to stand naked and unashamed before the Lord. Then it will look up. The subconscious realm is connected to the Father by means of the silver cord. If the subconscious realm, having a guilt complex and therefore a sense of shame, is separated in consciousness from the Father, there is no way by which anything from the Father can reach it. It shuts itself off. It cannot forgive itself; it cannot remove its own guilt complex. It shuts itself off from the Father. 

The current from the Father is supposed to reach the level of the conscious mind from two directions: a positive and negative pole working through the conscious mind—one, you may say, direct from the Father and the other indirectly from the Father, through the subconscious mind and back to the conscious mind. That which the Father would impress on the conscious mind, by reason of inspiration, must have a body of form, a starting point within the range of that which the individual knows in his subconscious realm, if this direct current of inspiration is going to have meaning. In other words from above, from the Father, direct to the conscious mind, there is an impulse conveying some idea. Unless there is response in the subconscious realm which allows that which will provide the body for this thought that is being projected, the projected thought never gets into the conscious mind. If the subconscious realm is ashamed before the Lord, it will not let anything come out of itself to rise up. 

There must be a starting point. We have to move from the known to the unknown. The starting point of the idea has to be in the subconscious realm. If there is the projection from the Father to the point of the conscious mind and the subconscious responds, some idea that has relationship to that which is being projected is drawn to the surface and comes into the realm of thinking—the pitcher at the fountain, the wheel at the cistern—and something begins to move.  You begin to think in the realm of logic and reason. The inspired thought is in itself logical and reasonable. Projected into the realm of logic and reason, the element of control is established, something arises out of the subconscious realm to give body to it, and then it becomes a thought in the mind. Then meditation upon it allows an expansion of vision and understanding, related ideas begin to appear, and a current of divine inspiration flows.

But as long as the subconscious realm has that guilt complex and is ashamed before the Lord, it will not let any idea arise out of itself in response to that which is projected by the Father—that which is projected by the Father in radiation, or inspiration, does not connect up. It remains meaningless and the individual exists as if he did not have any connection with the Father, controlled by the subconscious realm and its fears and its shames, subconsciously related to the ill vibrations in the world that relate to the ill things in itself. Until the individual allows the guilt complex to be removed, and until the sense of shame has vanished, he cannot be a true instrument for the expression of the will of the Father under the direction of the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Until the unholy ghost has been cleansed, so that it becomes, through the working of the spirit of God, the Holy Ghost abiding in you, you cannot be a means by which God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Here you have a little glimpse of the machinery by which these things work out. If we are allowing the silver cord from the Father to the subconscious realm to be meaningful during life, so that the subconscious realm has been cleansed and there is no sense of shame controlling there, the subconscious mind is open to the Father—then out of it come those things, rising up to the current of inspiration, that come to focus in the realm of the conscious mind, and the individual begins to know the will of the Father. He begins to speak the Word of the Father, perhaps stumblingly at first, while the machinery is getting into operation, but it begins to work. Then he begins to find that the power of God is a reality, that the wisdom of God, the understanding of God, the knowledge of the cosmos, can find focus in his being according to the need and the response. 

It has been my blessed and holy privilege to help individuals go through these processes of cleansing many times, cycles and cycles moving forward. You have all experienced it to some degree. Now, seeing and understanding something of the principles that are involved in relationship to yourselves, you have the opportunity of taking an honest inventory, of really repenting. What is it the Master said? “Repent, and be baptized”—with fire and the Holy Ghost; the fire of God's love, in the power of the Holy Ghost. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But until there is repentance, and the guilt complex removed and the sense of shame banished away, the individual cannot, by any maneuverings whatsoever, by any effort whatsoever, find entrance into that kingdom. 

I trust that you have gained a greater vision of this. You must be willing to trust the Lord and throw yourself on His mercy, so that you repent enough to take the attitude, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” It cannot be just the working of a few thoughts in the mind. It must be a genuine, penetrating thing, that reaches into the depths of being. When there is that genuine repentance, so that the sense of shame can be banished, and the mind centers on the Father and does not respond to anything of the prince of this world in himself, the power of the Holy Ghost can cleanse out the putrid mess that does not belong there. 

When it comes to the surface it will be repulsive. I have seen stark terror in the eyes of those being cleansed, and there is just one thing holding them—love response to God. There was horror at the realization that such things were in themselves, coming to the surface. But if the attitude of the individual is the same as if he had a boil, and he lets the putrid core gush out and does not claim it as his own, does not snatch it and try to push it back into himself, there is a way of freedom for himself. However, if he starts identifying himself with the putrid stuff that starts to gush out of himself, and says, “This is me,” the cleansing is reversed and the mess goes back down inside. 

The individual has to reach a point of polarity where he lets that which does not belong in the subconscious realm be cast out without identifying himself with it, even though it may seem for the moment that he is going to be nothing when the job is done. Then he will realize for the first time, in an absolute sense, that without God he is nothing—there are those within the sound of my voice who can testify to the truth of that. He may have intellectually accepted it for a long time but in that moment he comes face to face with the truth of it, that only in God can he be anything. With the sense of shame cleansed away the subconsciousness turns its face, tear-streaked and perhaps trembling, to the Father, throws itself on His mercy and refuses to be subject to anything coming out of itself or anything that has been related to itself out in the world. 

There, facing the throne, in the subconscious realm the individual becomes open to the Father. The silver cord begins to have meaning, not just in a physical sense but in a mental sense—with the whole mind; the conscious mind and the subconscious mind—and in the heart. The silver cord begins to have meaning in the whole body, and the will of the Father, under the direction of the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost, begins to be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

These laws and principles are absolute. It does not make any difference what anyone thinks or does not think, they are absolute, and we either conform to the laws according to the principles that you have been learning for years in the Third Sacred School or else! Except as we allow this to take place while we live on earth, we deny the reason for our living and betray the trust of God. Only as we share the victory through the spirit of the living Christ can our lives have any true meaning on earth. 

It is only when we allow the cycle to complete, so that the Holy Ghost abiding in us permits the will of the Father to be done on earth, under the direction of the Son, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that the silver cord has meaning in all phases of life, and the golden bowl is a reality, and the pitcher at the fountain has meaning, and we have something besides stagnant, putrid water in the cistern of the subconscious mind. The wheel at the cistern is the machinery of thinking. If all it can touch is the stagnant, putrid water of the subconscious mind it cannot produce life in the true sense. Only when the pitcher at the fountain, the inspiration of the spirit direct from the Father, direct to the level of the conscious mind, has a relationship to that which comes up out of the subconscious mind, so that there is a meeting point in the conscious mind, can the inspiration be meaningful. 

In the stillness of the human mind you begin to recognize and realize the meaning of the words, “The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” “Be still, and know that I AM God.” In quietness of spirit, abiding centered, we can let the cleansing take place so easily and swiftly. In stillness before the Lord we begin to know Him as He is. God bless you.

© Emissaries of Divine Light