God Is All

Bicknell Young

God is all there is. God is ever present. God fills all space. There is nothing but God. How many of us have uttered these magical words over and over in an hour of seeming need, then to find the clouds to break away and the light dawn again in our existence. Yet how many times do we grasp the deep , basic meaning hidden in these simple yet stupendous sentences. It is apparently such simple statements as these, understood and practiced, that caused the inventions named sin, disease , sorrow and death to flee away and the glory of God be seen , known and felt on earth as it is in heaven.
Very recently a practical experience came which revealed to me many things. I happened to notice that during the evening one of my canaries became indisposed: The trouble would be called pneumonia. The next morning as I approached the cage to greet the birds , this one little fellow struggled greatly and it seemed apparent that the bird was dying. I opened the door of the cage and touched the bird with my hand. He fell over on his side and closed his eyes. I placed him in the cage on the bottom and moved away.

Suggestions came like this: how frail and delicate canaries are, how helpless one feels in the presence of a dying bird. Then swiftly came the voice of truth with its blaze of might and power. Isn't God all there is?

Now this thought came fresh and new as though I had never considered it before. Why of course, God is all, there could not be anything else besides God. God is all there is and there could not be anything else besides God, and this closed the matter right there. Immediately the canary was lost sight of. The responsibility to heal and destroy death was gone with the responsibility to demonstrate life. There was nothing but the glorious consciousness that God is all there is. Then God is right here and cannot die and it was seen, and it was felt, and it was understood, and lo , this canary flew upon his perch and in a few minutes began to chirp. A little later he was singing at the top of his voice. As the folded bud of a rose contains the full bloom, so this insight has been seen that God is all that could be seen and out of this wisdom or view, the bird came forth alive and well. Now why did the taking away of the canary thought , the utter renunciation of the bird as sick or well, dead or alive, the utter forgetfulness of the bird bring it back to life , health and harmony?

Just for illustration-Imagine at the top of this page is a picture of a sheep grazing on a grassy plain, and nearby is a shepherd and his dog. Now I ask you , what is it that makes this sheep, this dog and this man alike. Why are they all the same? And what is this thing that they are? If you cannot answer at once, I continue, what is their substance?and the answer is " paper" This sheep that you see this man and his dog are all alike, their substance is the same. There is nothing there but the paper. The dog is not here as though it were something different from the paper, but the paper and the dog are one and the same. But just for the sake of the play, the joy of it, the picture or form of it is called a dog , of another a man, and so on, yet all the while we have the knowledge that only paper is present We come now to see God and man. By the way, has it ever occurred to you that this is an ambiguous statement, God and man? May we not as well say God and something else? We have read and heard and spoken of God and idea, of God and manifestation, of God and man, but we are to see that we cannot accept God as all and still have something else besides. If we are to have man, the only way this can be is for God and man to be the same, the same being. We look around us and see women, men , and children, armies , birds, plants. But is their subject? Now the substance of a thing is that which it consists, that which is essential and vital. For instance, the substance of a rub is wool.The substance of a chair may be wood. The question is , what is the substance of all living things and being? Life. Since God is Life, and God is all, their substance is God.

All there is to man, that is vital, that is real, that is immortal,, that is changeless, is his Life,and Soul, being Spirit, there is now and eternally. Holding now this insight, we continue and reason, we can for a moment penetrate the forms called "me", "women ", "child", and perceive this Life , this Soul, this Spirit, this being…is God. God is all there is here. Now we can easily look at the picture of the man, the dog and sheep and say , these forms are not separate or apart from the paper. Here is the paper and here are the forms and yet the forms and the paper are one ; is it not so? Then after seeing that the paper is the substance of the forms , nothing of itself, we can proceed to name this one dog, another a sheep, and another a man. We call them different names, yet all the while we understand that they are nothing of themselves, but they are all whatever the paper is. Does not this explain the canary? The revelation had been: All there is to the canary is his life. The Life is not the canary its Life is God and God cannot die. To keep the vision on the All ness of God would be to include the bird , for the bird did not exist of itself. Thus , spiritually perceived that Life is spirit and when this was seen, what life really is,
the canary was seen in its bountiful state of health and harmony.

Now here is a marvelous lesson. If you take away the dog, the man, the sheep from the paper, we can bring them back again and understand them. So then, when we take away that which is established and called a canary, a man and animal and see the Life that is God as all there is to them. We can have them and understand them and enjoy them and we can spiritually perceive that God is all there is to Life and any being, we shall have no death and this will be demonstrated right here on this earth.
Did not the discerning Jesus prophesy : " he that loses his life shall find it?" He that loses the sense of life as man , perceiveth with joy unspeakable, that his Life is God and has found his true being. The Life of you, the Soul of you, the Spirit of you, the God of you, is all there is to you, is you, is it not? Then for a moment forget you are a woman, a man , a child and think of God as being all there is. God is all. This is the meaning of renunciation. You remove the notion that there is God and something besides. You recognize God as All-in -All.

Look for a moment at the tree standing by your window. Now take away the form and see the Life that is there. Again look at the plant blossoming before you. Then take away the form and see the beauty and smile of God. Look at the child, the man, the woman about you and see the same of them; see the substance of them, the marvelous universe of spiritual beings you have then.
Now it is inborn and natural to know that God cannot be sick, cannot be diseased, that God cannot be poor, sad, dead, you know that at once , do you not, with all the fervor of your being? When men look upon men, what is the report that he hears? " I am poor , I am sick, I am ignorant." But when God looks upon Good what is the report that is spoken? " This is my beloved son ( self) in whom I am well pleased. " What is the vision that you prefer? Which are the words you love most to give or to hear?
A woman came to a practitioner and reported that she had tried but had never been able to overcome headache. She was compelled to admit and confess that God could not have a headache and there was nothing but God. She was counseled not to think of anything regarding the matter but this-that God could not have a headache and that God is all there is . Her answer came in due time that comes from God , that all is well.

A woman said that her home and husband were great failures. He drank and was a cruel father and husband. Let the form called man be lifted from your vision and see instead that which is actually before you ; the soul, the Being of man- is God who cannot sin, who is unutterably kind, tender, loving and compassionate. Know that God can only express that which God is. Her answer came in due time, "Our home is wonderful, my husband is a new man. He is kind and thoughtful of me and the children that we know not how to express our joy and happiness."
Jesus reserved his inner teachings for his disciples ; as only those who have this love for God in their hearts are willing to be born again, are willing to lay aside the personal sense of self. To say that God is all, without this inner light and illumination, is to exalt self and is to place glory and power where it belongeth not. It was whispered to the discerning Jesus that if he would only claim his power for himself that he could be king of the earth, that he could march down the street and soldiers and slaves would fight for and worship him. But oh no, he cast aside this foolish notion about self and he exalted that notion which is God.

Many cannot comprehend that all the sayings of Jesus coalesce and have one meaning. For instance he said " Of my own self I can do nothing." …In this one section there were a few sentences that were illegible. But the article goes on.

…. would be the same in the picture if you fancied a white paper. A sheep would speak out and say" when you see me, you see the paper, for I and the paper are one. I , as sheep can do nothing, but whatever the paper is… then I am that. " You can readily see that apart from the paper the sheep has no existence, and so it is true that apart from God, there is not being. Is not this glorious fact a rock upon which to stand, a light towards which which is vision? He that exalteth himself shall be abased for he knoweth that before he can whisper the meaning of such glorious words as "God is all", he must receive illumination from within, that never as the personal sense God, for only God is God.

We look about and see the forms called man, women, children, take away these outlines , these forms, and what have you left? You have life left, you have intelligence left. This is clearly illustrated by the fact that if you take away these outlines of the sheep in the picture, you have the paper left, the same as previous. Now can this Life, the Substance, this Being that is God, that is outlined unconditionally, have pneumonia, be deaf, be crippled? Can this Life that is Free , that is undefiled , that is incorruptible, that is changeless and immortal, be conditioned, be ignorant, be contaminated? A thousand times " No". Place your vision then on this self that you are - and believe and have faith that all disease, sorrow, poverty, death, are impossible, preposterous.

Could the sheep in the picture have anything that was not in the paper? No more can you have what is not of or in God. If God cannot have fever, measles, broken bones, disease, worry, fear, then they do not exist and you cannot have them-for all is God and there is none else." I am God and there is none else." Stand firmly on this rock and what is there that can be against you? Suppose the belief is deafness. Can God be deaf? He that planteth the ear, can he not hear? You have no hearing of your own. God is the only hearer. Since there is no deafness in God , there is no deafness at all because there is nothing besides God. Know that the God of me hears perfectly and there is nothing else to me. God being all, there is nothing to interfere with God's perfection , the absolute and unconditional, the All-in-All.
Suppose the belief is sickness, pain , disease- know with all your strength, heart, - God cannot be sick or diseased or in pain. There is nothing else but God. God is perfection ; God is joy, God is harmony. God is glory. God is Love. God is irresistible, inevitable, irrevocable health, and wholeness now, here and always and forever. There is nothing but God. The Life of the body is God.Doesn't this bring God close to you? It is impossible for life to be diseased , to be blind, to be deaf, to be crippled. Impossible! And your substance is this very health and strength is it not? Man is not separated from God.

 
God is all. One day there came a call from a girl's seminary. A girl was ill for several weeks and she was in such a state of fever and delirium that the nurses couldn't find any way of keeping her in bed. Immediately I left the phone, the vision came that changeless , deathless, Life cannot have fever. God cannot lose consciousness. Life and consciousness are one and the same yesterday, today and forever. Within an hour the girl was quietly sleeping. Next morning the call came she was healed. You cannot have what is not God. If God cannot have fever, measles, broken bones, disease, worry , fear, then they do not exist and you cannot have them for God is all and there is none else. Stand firmly on this rock and what is against you?

We do not deny this idea or form called man, rather do we exalt it. We see that form or individuality is nothing of itself, but reality is God, Spirit, the only substance there is. The universe of spirit is peopled with spiritual beings whose identity and individuality is God, forever sustained and preserved. God and man are one this one is God. As we might say about the picture you imagined, that the sheep and the paper are one, but this one is paper. Life and its foundations are one but this one is threefold or trinity.
The understanding of the trinity of God constitutes an explanation of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, which is given clearly in the C. S. Textbook of M. B. Eddy. Every form represents Spirit, God and as our sense of " God is All" becomes more illumined , and more transparent, we will see here and now such glorified, perfect, immortal beings, without death, as we are forever known and held in the All Presence, THE GOD WHO IS ALL.