The Impersonal Life: The Classic of Self-Realization - Softcover

Benner, Joseph S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143131117 ISBN 13: 9780143131113

Publisher: TarcherPerigee, 2017

Synopsis

The classic of practical mysticism is published with four bonus works in this handsome signature edition.

Since it first appeared in 1914, The Impersonal Life has touched hundreds of thousands of readers. Its simple meditative message teaches you, step by step, to realize that your own consciousness is one with all of Creation—that you are an outlet of Divine will. Once that extraordinary truth is understood, your wishes become one with God, and your life unfolds in a meaningful, exuberant mosaic in which your fondest hopes and highest purposes are realized.

Written anonymously by American mystic Joseph S. Benner (1872-1938), The Impersonal Life is one of the modern landmarks of New Thought and mystical spirituality As a special bonus, this edition includes four of Benner's most powerful essays: The Way Out; The Way Beyond; Wealth; and The Teacher.

Here is a complete journey into the work of a spiritual genius and practical mystic.

About this title

About the Author:

American mystic Joseph S. Benner (1872-1938) was one of the most thoughtful and impactful contemplative voices to emerge from the metaphysical culture of the 20th century. His books, particularly The Impersonal Life, have inspired a wide range of New Thought authors, and continue to be widely read today.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

I. I Am

To you who read, I speak.        To you, who, thru long years and much running to and fro, have been eagerly seeking, in books and teachings, in philosophy and religion, for you know not what—Truth, Happiness, Freedom, God.        To you whose Soul is weary and discouraged and almost destitute of hope.        To you, who many times have obtained a glimpse of that “Truth,” only to find, when you followed and tried to reach it, that it disappeared in the beyond, and was but the mirage of the desert.        To you, who thought you had found it in some great teacher, who was perhaps the acknowledged head of some Society, Fraternity or Religion, and who appeared to you to be a “Master,” so marvelous was the wisdom he taught and the works he performed;—only to awaken later to the realization that that “Master” was but a human personality, with faults and weaknesses, and secret sins, the same as you, even tho that personality may have been a channel thru which were voiced many beautiful teachings, which seemed to you the highest “Truth.”        And here you are, Soul aweary and anhungered, and not knowing where to turn.        To you, I AM come.        And likewise to you, who have begun to feel the presence of that “Truth” within your Soul, and seek the confirmation of that which of late has been vaguely struggling for living expression within.        Yes, to all you who hunger for the true “Bread of Life,” I AM come.        Are you ready to partake?        If so, then arouse yourself. Sit up. Still your human mind and follow closely My Word herein spoken. Or you will turn away disappointed once more, with the aching hunger still in your heart.        I!        Who am I?—        I, Who speak with such seeming knowledge and authority?        Listen!        I AM You, that part of you who IS and KNOWS;        WHO KNOWS ALL THINGS,        And always knew and always was.        Yes, I AM You, Your SELF; that part of you who says I AM and is I AM;        That transcendent, innermost part of you which quickens within as you read, which responds to this My Word, which perceives Its Truth, which recognizes all Truth and discards all error wherever found. Not that part which has been feeding on error all these years.        For I AM your real Teacher, the only real one you will ever know, and the only MASTER;        I, your Divine SELF.        I, the I AM of you, bring to you this My Message, My living Word, as I have brought to you everything in life, be it book or “Master,” poverty or riches, bitter experience or love, to teach you that I, and I alone, your own True Self, AM The Teacher for you, the only Teacher and the only God, Who is and always has been providing you not only with the Bread and Wine of Life, but with all things needed for your physical, mental and spiritual growth and sustenance.        Therefore that which appeals to YOU, as you read, is MY Message, spoken to your outer human consciousness from within, and is but a confirmation of that which the I AM of you always knew within, but had not yet translated in definite, tangible terms to your outer consciousness.        Likewise, all that ever appealed to You, coming from some outward expression, was but the confirmation of My Word already spoken within, and which outward expression was the avenue or means I chose at the time thru which to reach and impress your human or self consciousness,        But I AM not your human mind, nor its child, the intellect. They are but the expression of your Being, as you are the expression of My Being; they are but phases of your human personality, as You are a phase of My Divine Impersonality.        Weigh and study carefully these words.        Rise up and free yourself from the domination of your personality, with its self-inflated and selfglorifying mind and intellect, now and for always.        For your mind henceforth must be Your servant, and the intellect Your slave, if My Word is to penetrate to your Soul consciousness.        I AM come now to your Soul consciousness, which I have quickened expressly in preparation for the reception of My Word.        Now, if you are strong enough to bear it;        If you can put aside all your private personal fancies, beliefs and opinions, which are but the rubbish you have gathered from the dumping grounds of others;        If you are strong enough to cast them all away;—        Then My Word will be to you a source of endless Joy and Blessing.        But be prepared to have this personality of yours doubt My Word as you read It all along the way.        For its very life is threatened, and it knows it cannot live and thrive and longer dominate your thinking, your feelings, your going and coming, as of old,—if you take My Word into your heart and permit It there to abide.        Yes, I AM come to you now,        To make you conscious of My Presence;        For I have likewise prepared your human mind so that it can, in a measure, comprehend the meaning of ME.        I have been with you always, but you did not know it.        I have purposely led you thru the Wilderness of books and teachings, of religions and philosophies, keeping ever before your Soul’s eye the vision of the Promised Land,        Feeding you with the manna of the Desert, that you might remember and value and long for the Bread of the Spirit.        Now I have brought you to the river Jordan, that separates you from your Divine heritage.        Now the time has come for you consciously to know Me; the time has come for you to cross over into Canaan, the land of Milk and Honey.        Are you ready?        Do you want to go?        Then follow this My Word, which is the Ark of My Covenant, and you shall go over dry shod.

II. Be Still and Know

Now, in order that you may learn to know Me, so that you can be sure it is I, your own True Self, Who speak these words, you must first learn to Be Still, to quiet your human mind and body and all their activities, so that you no longer are conscious of them.        You may not yet be able to do this,        But I will teach you how, if you really want to know Me, and are willing to prove it by trusting Me and obeying Me in all that I now shall call upon you to do.        Listen!        Try to imagine the “I” who speak thruout these pages as being your Higher or Divine Self, addressing and counselling your human mind and intellect, which you will consider for the moment as being a separate personality. Your human mind is so constituted that it cannot accept anything which does not conform with what it has previously experienced or learned, and which its intellect does not consider reasonable. Therefore, in addressing it, You are using such terms and expressions as will most clearly explain to your intellect the truths it must understand before the mind can awaken to the consciousness of your meaning.        The fact is, this “I” is yourself, your Real Self. Your human mind has heretofore been so engrossed with the task of supplying its intellect and body with all manner of selfish indulgences, that, it has never had time to get acquainted with the Real You, its true Lord and Master. While You have been so interested in and affected by the pleasures and sufferings of your body and intellect, that you have almost come to believe You are your intellect and body, and you have consequently nearly forgotten Me, your Divine Self.        I AM not your intellect and body, and this Message is to teach you that You and I are One. The words I herein speak, and the main burden of these instructions, is to awaken your consciousness to this great fact.        But you cannot awaken to this fact until you can get away from the consciousness of this body and intellect, which so long have held you enslaved. You must feel Me within, before you can know I AM there.        Now, in order that you can become wholly oblivious of your mind and its thoughts and your body and its sensations, so that you can feel Me within, it is necessary that you studiously obey these. My instructions.        Sit quiet in a relaxed position, and, when wholly at ease, let your mind take in the significance of these words:        Be still!—and KNOW,—I AM,—God.”        Without thinking, allow this, My Divine Command, to penetrate deep into your Soul. Let whatever impressions that come to your mind enter at will—without effort or interference on your part. Note carefully their import, for it is I, within, thru these impressions, instructing you. Then, when somewhat of their vital significance begins to dawn upon your consciousness, speak these My Words slowly, imperatively, to every cell of your body, to every faculty of your mind, with all the conscious power you possess:—        “Be still!—and KNOW,—I AM,—God.”        Speak them just as they are herein written, trying to realize that the God of you commands and demands of your mortal self implicit obedience.        Study them, search out their hidden potency.        Brood over them, carry them with you into your work, whatever it be. Make them the vital, dominating factor in your work, in all your creative thoughts.        Say them a thousand times a day,        Until you have discovered all My innermost meaning;        Until every cell of your body thrills in joyful response to the command, “Be Still,” and instantly obeys;        And every vagrant thought hovering around your mind hies itself off into nothingness.        Then, as the Words reverberate thru the caverns of your now empty being;        Then, as the Sun of Know-ing begins to rise on the horizon of your consciousness;        Then, will you feel the swell of a wondrous strange Breath filling you to the extreme of all your mortal members, causing your senses almost to burst with the ecstacy of it; then, will there come surge after surge of a mighty, resistless Power rising within you, lifting you almost off the earth; then, will you feel within the Glory, the Holiness, the Majesty of My Presence;        And then, then you will KNOW, I AM, GOD.        You,—when you have felt Me thus in such moments within, when you have tasted of My Power, harkened to My Wisdom, and known the ecstacy of My all-embracing Love,—you no disease can touch, no circumstance can weaken, no enemy can conquer. For now you KNOW I AM within, and you always hereafter will turn to Me in your need, putting all your trust in Me, and allowing Me to manifest forth My Will.        And you, when you turn thus to Me, will always find Me an unfailing and everpresent help in time of need; for I will so fill you with a Realization of My Presence and of My Power, that you need only Be Still and allow Me to do whatever you want done,—heal your ills or those of others, illumine your mind so you can see with My eyes the Truth you seek, or perform perfectly the tasks which before seemed almost impossible of accomplishment.        But this Knowledge, this Realization, will not come at once. It may not come for years. And it may come tomorrow.        It depends upon no one but You.        Not upon your personality, with its human desires and human understanding.        But upon the I AM of you—God, within.        Who is it that causes the bud to open into the blossom?        Who causes the chick to burst its shell?        Who decides the day and the hour?        It is the conscious, natural act of the Intelligence within, My Intelligence, directed by My Will, bringing to fruition My Idea and expressing it forth in the blossom and in the chick.        But did the blossom and the chick have anything to do with it?        No, only as they submitted or united their wills with Mine and allowed Me and My Wisdom to determine the hour and the ripeness for action, and then only as they obeyed the impulse of My Will to make the effort, could they step forth into the New Life.        You may, with your personality, try a thousand times a thousand times to burst thru the shell of your human consciousness.        But it will result only, if at all, in a breaking down of the doors I have provided between the world of tangible forms and the realm of intangible dreams; and the door being open you then no longer can keep out intruders from your private domain, without much trouble and suffering.        But even this I sometimes permit, that you may gain thru such suffering the strength you lack and the wisdom needed to know that, not until you yield up all desire for knowledge, for goodness, yes, for union with Me, to benefit self, can you unfold your petals showing forth the perfect Beauty of My Divine Nature, and can throw off the shell of your human personality and step forth into the glorious Light of My Heavenly Kingdom.        Therefore I give you these directions now, at the beginning, that you may be learning how to recognize Me.        For I here promise you, if you follow and strive earnestly to comprehend and obey My instructions herein given, you shall very soon know Me, and I will give you to comprehend all of My Word wherever written,—in book or teaching, in Nature, or in your fellow man.        If there is much in what herein is written that seems contradictory, seek out My real meaning before discarding it.        Do not leave a single paragraph, or any one thought in it, until all that is suggested becomes clear.        But in all your seeking and all your striving, let it be with faith and trust in Me, your True Self within, and without being anxious about results; for the results are all in My keeping, and I will take care of them. Your doubts and your anxiety are but of the personality, and if allowed to persist will lead only to failure and disappointment.

About this edition

• Publisher: TarcherPerigee
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0143131117
• ISBN 13: 9780143131113
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240