ON TEACHING IT RIGHT
perhaps the most powerful spiritual problem-solving method ever devised~~ is the simple recognition that "God is where my problem appears to be:' Thi~~recognition brings enlightenment and healing where darkness and illness ~ temporarily have seemed to reign.
But if a spiritual teacher were to introduce that method to his beginning student~,~~ he might be met by plain disbelief. After all. how can a mere inner ~ of God bring answers and produce healing?
Understanding the students' dilemma, the teacher might therefore em phasize~ how spiritual problem-solving works. He would explain the Universal ~w of Cause and Effect, saying that when an inner recognition of Truth is established in regard to a problem, an outer manifestation of Truth will appear as a specific solution. He might add that any mental picture can be regarded as a Ca4use and il will. through Universal law, be reflected as an equivalent Effect in the~~hysical world. See an apple, get an apple. ~ualize a parking place, get a parking~ia~e~
That explanation would meet with immediate comprehension; for:the~aw of Cause and Effect in the physical world is widely recognized, so itspperation~ in the nonphysical world would not be mysterious. Students could,cle'arly ~ the formula: Inner pictures produce outer results. If the value of the original P~4 osition - "God is where my problem appears to be" - is hard to explaizibecause~¶ people can't believe such a simple statement will change anything, teac~hing how it works is easy because everyone understands the Cause-and-Effect principle ~
Thus, however, a subtle difficulty is often introduced into teachings about spiritual problem-solving: The easy-to4each ideas are widely taught and prac ticed, while the hard4~teach ideas, though clearly acknowledged, tale on a sec6nd ' ary role by default. The result is that the true problem-solvt~~g principle -- "God~ is where my problem appears to be" - is given relatively little attention, whil~e~ the way it works is represented as being the major teaching.~..;2['~~$.:
Spiritual problem~solving is then taught this way: "Make a picturem;you~~ mind of what you want and Law will transform it into a physical reality ~ difficulty here, of course, is that nothing is said about the worthwhileness of the picture or the righteousness of the goal. The reference to high principle im'plicit~'~ in the original proposition about God's being where the problem is, has totslly ~ disappeared. Spiritual problem-solving, in the process of being clarified for teac~i~ig~ purposes, has been reduced to a mere technique for getting what one i~ants.
What must not be forgotten, therefore, is that the essential purpose of spiritual problem-solving is to disco"'er the Divine solution, to allow God's gmce and li3eaang~~ power into a place of conflict or injury~ In doing this, one releases the problem~ to God, abandons any attempt to manufacture one's own solutions and o~6ns the way for an inflow of inspiratiori. The process of healing which foflows~iw~ not even involve a need to visualize ai~. But if it does, the images one~ presents to the Law of Cause and Effect will clearly be a consequence of attention toGo~~ and openness to the highest level of solution available.