Secrets of the Spiritual Kingdom
A guide for advancing students
by
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The whole secret to having that healing Christ Consciousness is in the attainment or in the ability to have a relaxed mind, to meet any problem, any storm, within, with a relaxed mind. Any storm presented to your consciousness—with that relaxed mind—is meeting it with the Christ that says, “Peace, be still,” and then there is a great calm.
Do we not see the principle here? What is it that dissolves the storm? It is the Christ saying, “Peace, be still.” It is the Christ saying, “It is I, I am Omnipresent. You are looking at I, be not afraid.” And then the goal is attained, a great calm follows.
The secret to meeting any discord is to meet it with a relaxed mind. When God says, ‘fear not,’ that is not the Presence of God or Christ trying to comfort you. “Fear not.” That’s direction on how to meet it. Fear not! Have no fear, have a relaxed mind. “It is I, be not afraid. Fear not, I am with you. I will never leave you.” This is not something said by Christ to comfort the poor little human being. This is clear-cut direction; the Christ of you is saying, “don’t fear, don’t meet it with fear; meet it with I.”
One of the best examples I have is the story that I call, “Two Dogs Barking.” I’m going to repeat it even though I’ve said it in the past because it points out to me this principle of a relaxed mind.
One day I was up in a little travel-trailer in the woods, and I was sitting on the couch having a meditation, after having read a little bit. Off in the woods, there were two dogs barking. One of the dogs was obviously large; you could tell by its low-pitched bark and the other was probably pretty small because it had a high-pitched, kind of squeaky bark, and it was very loud. These two dogs were really going at it—barking and snarling and snapping. You could tell that the big dog was about to tear that little dog into pieces. And here I was sitting on my couch listening to this scuffle, this storm, that appeared to be without, but was actually within my consciousness. I couldn’t meditate at all. How do you meditate when that’s going on? Suddenly it occurred to me, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is in my consciousness and I should be able to do something about this.”
And so I got as quiet as I could in spite of the racket and they were really going at it. I expected to hear the high pitched little dog crying and running off. And I’m meditating and they’re barking. I’m meditating and they’re shrieking. I’m meditating and they’re really going at it.
Suddenly the little scripture came to me, “Not by might” and I relaxed my body. “Nor by power,” and I relaxed my mind. “But by My Spirit.” And I said within myself, “Wait a minute. I can’t use God. Now God, you use me.” I relaxed my entire being and I suddenly felt flooded with the Presence. And there was a great calm because Christ had said, “It is I, be not afraid. My Presence is here.” And there was a great calm.
I stayed in that calm for a few minutes and, when I opened my eyes I thought; “Hey, what happened to those dogs?” Because there was a silence outside, that storm was not outside; it was within consciousness, and as I reached that great calm, well, that is where I was living - in that calm. I even opened the door and looked out, and listened – nothing: total calm. Now, either those dogs became friends and walked down the road wagging their tails, side by side, or they simply walked away in different directions, but nothing happened.
The storm ceased and there was a great calm; as within so without, because without is really within. We understand Saint Thomas, in the Book of Thomas, when he says that Christ said, “The outside must become the inside and the inside the outside,” don’t we? There was a great calm, as within, so without. And I realized, and am realizing even today, that the answer to any storm—any storm—is to meet it with a relaxed state of being, to meet it with no power whatsoever. No resistance. No fear. No anger. No physical might, no mental thoughts, no mental power, and no mental statements. We do not calm the storm by any effort - physical or mental. We calm the storm by becoming still, by having a relaxed mind. And in that relaxed mind, Christ asserts Itself and says to the storm within, “Peace, be still,” and there follows a great calm. Or Christ appears and says “It is I, be not afraid,” or “Have no fear, it is I.” And immediately the goal is attained. And the goal is a great calm.
Do we see that? This is the whole secret of having that mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus. The Christ-mind is a relaxed mind, having no fear, having no effort, having no power. Simply knowing “It is I, be still.”
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About the Book
'Following "Steps to Mystical Experience", in this, his second book on spiritual guidance, the author gently takes us by the hand and opens up a new dimension within ourselves to discover that "that which you have looked for, you have always been". Compiled from a series of talks that flowed spontaneously from that deep inner place where all of our knowing resides, Bill Skiles has given us a guide to develop a healing consciousness, the Christ-consciousness that lives within each and everyone of us.
This is not a self-help, a self-improvement book, but - in the tradition of mystical teachings, like that presented by Joel Goldsmith and other mystics throughout the ages - this book is a tool to become aware of the wondrous reality of the divinity in our own soul.'
Britta Iwersen
Denver, Colorado
About the Author
About the Series Bill Skiles is the author of “Steps to Mystical Experience” a discussion of spiritual mystical principles and their application to our twenty-first century lives and “Secrets of the Spiritual Kingdom” lectures to take one from the letter to the Spirit. He graduated from Warner Southern College in Lake Wales, Florida, and has completed graduate work in child development and counseling. Bill lives with his wife in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina where together they have worked with over 80 special needs foster children. Bill spent over a year transcribing and editing these 25 talks, some 215,000 words, into a form that could be preserved for us all as a two volume set of books. In this series of talks Herb Fitch reiterates the truth that we must be born again. We must step out of humanhood and into the Spiritual Body which is Infinite, Omnipresent, and given to the Sons of God. This rebirth cannot become our experience unless and until we surrender that sense of self which we have lived in for many years, perhaps for centuries. In short, the human self must die, that the Divine may live and move and have Its Being where a person appears to be. Nothing less than the complete death of the natural man and all that he holds dear will enable one to wear the Purple Robe of Christhood. “For this mortal must put off mortality and put on Immortality.”