The Goal of Life, by Hiram Butler, [1908], at sacred-texts.com
The Goal of Life, by Hiram Butler, [1908], at sacred-texts.com
In bringing the thought of Yahveh, the God of the universe, the Formless Former of all things, and his manifestation in Elohim, to the mind of the public, it is apt to cause confusion in regard to man's relation to God in his different attributes. In the past, men made an image of God the Father, as the image of a man, and also an image of God the Son, as the image of the Christ, * and they bowed down and worshiped them, notwithstanding the emphatic utterance in the Commandments, "Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor the likeness of any form that is in the heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth," and the emphatic warning given by Moses before his death (Deut. N. 12-20).
When the mind has been drawn away from this error, imaging God, it is liable to feel lost for a time, therefore we want to bring to your mind the relation that we bear to Yahveh, the God of the universe, and to his embodied form in Yahveh Elohim.
OUR RELATION TO Yahveh ELOHIM
is that of a man to an elder brother. You remember that even Christ called us brethren (See Heb. ii. 11; Ps. xxii. 22); and the great and mighty angel that manifested to John on Patmos rebuked John for falling down to worship him, saying: "See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren the prophets." Jesus not only called his disciples "brethren," but he justified them in calling him "Lord and Master," for he said, "So am I."
Yahveh Elohim, * the Creator of the world, is our Lord and Master, even as was the Lord Christ, because he was a manifestation of Eloah, one of the great Body of Elohim.
When you realize that you have been accepted as one of the brethren of Yahveh Elohim, a member of that Eternal Brotherhood of all the ages
and of systems of worlds, you should realize in yourself the same feeling, only with greater reverence, that you had when you became a member of some fraternity. When a man becomes a member of the Masonic Order, he feels that he is allied to that order and he is likely to say: "We are doing so and so," or, "We have done thus and so." He feels his alliance, a oneness with that order, and in his alliance and conscious oneness he has more confidence in the members of that order than in any one else. He feels that in their compact it is not only a duty, but a pleasure to help each other.
You, Reader, by thinking over your own experience can bring this thought more clearly to your mind than we can present it. You need to think only of your experiences; if you are a member of some order think of the change of feelings that took place when you became a member, and observe also those that are active members of some of these orders, and you will be made to realize what that spirit of brotherly friendship means. This brotherly friendship should be realized in a greater measure when you have entered into covenant with Yahveh Elohim and have been consciously accepted as a member. This spirit of brotherly friendship should be cultivated and should be kept in mind. When cultivating it do not forget that while they are your Brethren, they are your elder Brothers, and that you are but a child.
[paragraph continues] They are Masters, and your teachers, therefore they should be held in greatest reverence. You should try to realize also that the greatness, the grandeur, the God-power and all the wonderful attributes that you have heretofore attributed to God, are embodied in this wondrous Brotherhood and expressed through them.
When you realize these facts in all their greatness the things of the world will sink into insignificance; all relationships of an earthly existence will appear of very little importance. The petty evils that have harassed you in the past will seem so ridiculous that you will be lifted above them all and placed upon a plane of consciousness, so superior to anything that you have ever known, that you will then realize what the Lord meant when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect;" then you will know what it means to ask and to receive; for you will not ask of your Brethren, Yahveh Elohim, anything that you can do for yourself. If you should feel the need of wisdom, of power, of knowledge, or of any material thing, then you can go to the Father, Yahveh Elohim, who is truly your Father as well as your Brethren, and make known your wants and they will be granted immediately.
Suppose you have a message for the enlightenment or salvation of a person or a people, wisdom will cause you to realize that you cannot grasp the innermost needs of that people perfectly, neither
is the human mind capable of correctly forming the thought so as to meet the requirements of the occasion, therefore it is well, under such circumstances, to call on Yahveh Elohim as on a loving, faithful brother, for wisdom, knowledge and power, that you may lead the person, or people to a knowledge of the truth; then go forward fearlessly; and you will always find that the angel of the Lord will be present with you, and that wisdom, knowledge and power, so far transcending your own, will be manifested through you, that your admiration, your deepest gratitude and affection will be called forth. Remember the words of the Psalmist, "He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."
The foregoing is a suggestion and only a suggestion, a truth so far as it goes, for your mind to take hold of, to think about, and to desire earnestly to know and to realize.
If we have succeeded in turning your face in the right direction, then we can say with perfect confidence: Go forward knowing that the angel of Yahveh will ever be near you and an Infinite Fountain of knowledge and wisdom will ever be accessible to you.
The next important thought is
OUR RELATION TO Yahveh,
the Formless Former and Cause of all things, the Life animating all life, the Substance originating all substance, "in whom we live and move and
have our being." As we have said, in Yahveh is all that is, and as the Lord Christ said, "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them." In our prayer to Yahveh it is necessary to realize first that Yahveh is the Will of the universe, and this being true there is no power of any name or nature, or form of manifestation that is not the manifestation of Yahveh, the Will that produced all things.
In considering the thought of prayer to Yahveh, the Omnipresent, the Source and Fountain from which all things flow, there is much that each person must learn from himself; there is only a little that can be put into words, but that little is enough to guide the mind in the right direction; the natural intuition and the spiritual leading, must fill in the deficiency which words can not express.
When the great general truth of the existence and manifestation of Yahveh (1) in the form of the perfected souls, the Elohim, and (2) in the creation of all things, is understood, then we can begin to ascend the ladder that was prepared for us by the Christ and prophetic revelation—ascend until we reach the realm where all is light, all is perfect knowledge, perfect at least so far as the individual is capable of utilizing it in the sphere in which he lives. When we speak of perfection in the line of knowledge, we rejoice to be able to
say that there is no such thing as perfection in knowledge; that is, there is no limit beyond which we cannot go, for in God's infinite wisdom, progression is as infinite as Yahveh, the God of the universe. But we can deal only with the mentality that we have, the consciousness that we have and the Source of this consciousness.
We have seen in our consideration of inspiration that we can inspire only that which we are able to form some conception of, or something directly relative to it; for that of which we can form no idea is impossible to us—even to pray for. But we can have and do have a conception, an idea of Jesus, and when he has given us the proper conception of the Father, as he calls him, the Elohim, then we can inspire, draw in from Yahveh, the quality that the Christ and the Elohim possess. It is because of this that Jesus said, "And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name."
The church has never understood this thought, because they have had but a vague idea of the Christ, his mission, and who he really is, but now that we have brought to your attention the fact that he was the incarnation of one of the Elohim, asking in his name has an expansive meaning.
What is his name?—The angel said, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins." Then, in asking any-
thing in his name, we must have a correct idea. of what it is to be saved from sin, and that idea cannot be obtained without the conception which we have heretofore brought to light, namely, the purpose of God in the creation of man—that we may be kings and priests unto God and reign as such on the earth; or, in the language of the prayer that the Christ taught, "Let thy [the Father's] kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." This then is the expression of his name, and it was the object of his coming into the world—to open the door that we may attain the object for which we were created.
When the mind comes into harmony with that object, and the life is dedicated to God—our hopes, desires, ambitions and all that we are, are centered in that object—then we shall be caused to know Yahveh Elohim, the God of the solar system. When the time comes that we shall know the Elohim, we have reached "that day" referred to by the Christ, "In that day ye shall ask me nothing." Therefore it follows that when we pray, while directly we do not ask Elohim, but we really are allying our consciousness to them while reaching out to Yahveh, the God of the universe, to inspire, gather in such qualities, powers and substance as we really need to lift us upon a higher plane. But, as we have said, it is impossible for us to gather to ourselves anything that we have no conception of. Therefore it is the office and
pleasure of Elohim through his angels, to give us a conception, not only in the mind, but also in the soul, of his great, grand and wonderful existence as the God of our system.
Then as we pray, in order that we may gather to ourselves the qualities that will lift us into his likeness, it becomes necessary that our mind should hold clearly the conception of Elohim. It is necessary that we should have the realization that we are accepted as members of that Eternal Brotherhood of which we have said so much in former chapters, and that we should ally ourselves to that Brotherhood with a vivid realization of the fact of our membership to hold us in that direction. This will ally us to the spiritual qualities that are in Elohim, and through this alliance we may draw in the life-qualities that find perfect expression in the Elohim.
Through that conscious alliance we are brought into touch with the spiritual qualities of Yahveh; and the spiritual qualities within the soul will be enabled to lay hold of those qualities that we stand in need of. This was the realization of the apostle when he said, "The Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." When the Christ said, "how that they ought to pray continually, and not to be weary" (Emphatic Diaglott), he virtually said, desire always—and do not be weary—to become like God, the Elohim, and in order that you may desire
effectively, it becomes necessary that you hold a vivid realization of your oneness with that Eternal Brotherhood, Yahveh Elohim, * a realization that you are no longer a member of earth's inhabitants; your reciprocal relations having ceased with earth's inhabitants, are transferred to those in the heavens. Then when you pray, while you are conscious that you are reaching out into the Fountain of Infinite Life, to Yahveh, the God of the universe—in whom we live, and not only we, but all things—yet your outreaching, bear in mind, must be immediately connected in your consciousness with Yahveh Elohim; otherwise you may be inspiring qualities that are active within your quiescent consciousness and not the qualities that are really desired to make you like God. For if we are connected with Yahveh Elohim, our sympathies are
there, and we have become one of that Body, one of its youngest, lowest members, it is true, but still being members of that Body, we are partakers of its life-currents, and all the mind-elements of that Body become accessible to us.
As the object of our creation is that we become like Elohim—in that we live from Yahveh, the same as the Elohim live from Yahveh—and as Elohim is the embodiment and expression of the highest qualities possible to exist in this system, then by simply placing our mind upon Yahveh Elohim, and desiring above all things that which we need, we have access through the Body that we have become united to, to the same qualities and to the same general Fountain. This is what Jesus said but could not explain to the understanding of the people of his day: "If ye ask anything in my name." The church in praying often close with the words, "This we ask for Jesus’ sake." This amounts to nothing; but what has amounted to something in the church from the beginning to the present is, that as the Christian prays to God, having in mind the Christ of Nazareth, he being the embodiment, the manifestation in the flesh, of Yahveh Eloah, the Christian unites his consciousness to Yahveh Elohim.
Even now, you who have not reached the point where you can realize, believe in from the depths of the soul, the existence, the godhood of Yahveh Elohim, if you can love the Lord Christ—and reach
out to him—for he is, he lives, and he is the only door—then through your alliance to him you will come into direct touch with Yahveh Elohim and the spirit of the whole Body. It is Christ's will and pleasure through his angels to lead you step by step from knowledge to knowledge, until you are able to be introduced to the Father.
Thus you see it is plain that in striving for the higher spiritual, you draw from the fountains of pure spirit, only through the alliance of your mind to the mind of Elohim. Let me repeat, if you have no consciousness of the Elohim nor faith in them, if you have faith in Jesus, who is Eloah, one of the Elohim, and let your prayer go out to Yahveh with your faith in Christ, the door will be opened to you and your prayers will be answered, the inspiration, or the thing desired, will be granted.
It was because of this relatedness that Jesus said, "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them." This was the announcement of a law with which we are familiar on the lower planes of action, and, as Hermes Trismegistus said, "True without error, certain and most true, that which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above."
Let us illustrate what we mean by being acquainted with this law on the lower plane of action: We know that in order to develop a muscle we must use it. How use it?—We must begin to act
as if we had muscular power. Therefore we have to believe that we have it and go to work to use it, and the more we use it, the more vivid the realization becomes that we have it, and the more fully will the muscle develop and become firm and strong.
Again, so much is said about a trained mind. What does this mean? Let us see. A young man may grow up to manhood without training—grow up like an animal, simply following the impulses of his own nature. Finally the impulse arises within him that he wants knowledge, he wants culture, development. He begins to study and he pursues his studies diligently. He does not know, but he believes that he can know, and he applies the means for gaining knowledge, and as he studies, the brain organs fill out and grow. We know from experience that it is a law that a man after maturity may begin to study, use his brain and cause the size of his head to increase considerably. These material things are accomplished through prayer, the sincere desire of the heart. The poet James Montgomery gives this beautiful definition of prayer:
Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.
That prayer is neither more nor less than the sincere desire of the heart, the interior, yearning, loving desire for something, is in perfect keeping with the law that we have just brought to your mind. Unless a person desires knowledge, he can not get it. If a child at school has no desire to learn, he cannot learn. There may be a forced external desire causing the child to memorize his lessons to prevent being punished, but if he gain knowledge the desire must be there. And this same law increases its potentiality, in its active efficiency as it nears the Source of our being. When the sincere desire of the heart unites the consciousness with Jesus the Christ, or to Yahveh Elohim, and our earnest desire is that we may have power to know the Father, and to be like him, such desire, being in harmony with the trend of all creative law, becomes very effective. And the more perfectly our consciousness is allied to Yahveh Elohim, or to the Christ, the more effective and active will be our desire to reach out to Yahveh.
This is the method by which you may apply the divine law that was brought to light in the teachings of the Christ, and it was one of the main objects of his mission to make it possible for man to apply this law. We repeat, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." Therefore neither Elohim nor his angels will overcome for you, for if they
overcame for you, you would be neither the overcomer nor the inheritor. It is their office to teach you how to become Yahveh Eloah, the same as they are; that is, it is their office to teach you how to inspire, draw in and incorporate and embody in yourself the spirit of Yahveh, the God of the universe. By becoming the embodiment and expression of Yahveh, you become Yahveh Eloah.
How to begin this inspiring is an important matter. You have seen that it is necessary to ally your consciousness either to the Lord Christ or to Yahveh Elohim, but you do this that you may become one with Yahveh as well as one with Yahveh Elohim, in the same way that Yahveh Elohim is one with Yahveh.
The word Yahveh means "I will be what I will to be." This we have seen is the surface meaning. There is a deep, hidden, underlying meaning in this name that no man in his present form of existence can put into words.
We have, heretofore, called your attention to the scientific hypothesis that the atom is composed of electrons, "rotating with inconceivable velocity," whose distance is relatively as far apart as the planets of our solar system; each atom representing, as it were, a minute solar system. Again, every molecule is made up of atoms which, in turn, bear a similar relationship to each other, thus there is a wheel within a wheel, a system within a system.
A blacksmith may heat a piece of steel, hammer it, change its form, put it in powerful rollers and roll it out as thin as he pleases, yet every atom composing that piece of steel maintains its own sphere inviolable. The power that holds these atoms separate from each other is the Will—Yahveh. "He gave to the sea its bounds, that the waters should not transgress his commandment." He has given the atom its bounds that nothing can pass over it. We have reason to believe that this same irresistible law holds worlds and suns and systems of worlds in their places, and this law is enforced by virtue of that Infinite Will that fills all things. Yahveh said, speaking through the prophet, "I will work, and who shall reverse it?" (Is. xliii. 13.) Here is a thought that you need, and you need to hold and to keep it ever in mind. First, that it is the will, the purpose of Yahveh that you become a mind-center for his great spiritual nature to fill and to express himself through.
Will can resist the will of Yahveh?
No one but yourself. Because of God's purpose to make man in his image and like himself, he has put it within man's power to resist His will within certain limits, and to suffer the consequences of that resistance, thus making man a free, responsible being. But if you have covenanted with Yahveh, then it is your desire that his will be your will. You have seen that his part of the covenant is the pledging of his name to be your power.
[paragraph continues] Have you taken that name? Then you need to know how to inspire, draw in and thus gather power from that Infinite Source, for bear in mind that if your mind is united to the Will, Yahveh, you may become as resistless as was the Christ when he said, "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth."
Remember that it is the office and the function of the Spirit of Yahveh to serve you, to be absolute servant to those who will do his will. Then if you fail to realize the power of that name through faith in it, so that you find yourself weak and incapable of being that which you will to be, or if you find that the adverse forces within yourself and outside of yourself are so strong that you can think of nothing else, so strong that they seem to crush out your consciousness, then begin to breathe rhythmically that wondrous name Yahveh. With every breath express that name, and as you express it, strive to penetrate deeper and deeper into the realization of its power; of its irresistible will power; of its power to lift you into the consciousness of his own great nature; of its power to make you irresistible in all that you wish to accomplish, of its power to crush out, beat back and drive away every adverse condition. As you thus breathe and repeat that name, let the soul open in loving unity with Elohim to Yahveh, the Fountain from which they, and you, and all things, live. The more fully your love goes
out to Yahveh, the more fully the Fountain of that Infinite power will flow into you and fill you and make you as much stronger, as much more potential than your adversary, as you can possibly imagine. This, remember, is the source of your power and this power you will need. For you who after reading this work consecrate your life to God, and start out in the effort to become Yahveh Eloah, will find that you meet adversaries both in and out of the body.
There is an occult society that is well organized and numbers ten of thousands, if not millions of members, scattered throughout the world, and unless they can bring you into their organization and cause you to work in harmony with their selfish purposes, they will strive to thwart your every effort. They have the power, unknown to you, to enter your room in the astral, to see what you are doing. They have power to focalize a well-drilled and cultured will upon you to crush your consciousness out of existence. They have power also to throw around you antagonistic circumstances, to bring adverse conditions in almost every conceivable way. If you are in union with others to bring these truths to the world, they will raise up adversaries, as if out of the invisible, and weak and unsuspecting persons will be made most subtile and bitter antagonists. Much more might be said on this subject but perhaps this is enough. One thing is certain, God has not left us without
power to do and to accomplish the right, but he has allowed the existence here on this planet of devils in human form who possess great power and peculiar knowledge, knowledge and power that the majority of our learned men believe impossible to exist among men. (See Rev. xvi. 13, 14.)
It is because of these powers and the development of the animal will in the members of that organization, that it becomes necessary to give you this one great secret of Divine Power. Bear in mind that your hope is in God, in the power of that Infinite Name—His Will. It is now time that there were a people organized and prepared to go forth "conquering and to conquer," able to conquer every adversary. In order that you may be able to overcome and to conquer all adversaries, we have given you the foregoing thought. Permit us here, in order to prevent any mistakes, to put the main thought, the means by which you obtain power to overcome adversaries, in a few words:
You who have consecrated your life to God, want above all things to be pure and holy and to know God and to do his will. You have either united your life with Jesus the Christ, or have become acquainted with and have united your life with Yahveh Elohim. Now you want power to pursue your aspirations—to pursue the knowledge of God and of the Spirit. God gave you his name for that purpose, the "I will be what I will to be."
[paragraph continues] With this realization as you seek God and righteousness, begin to breathe rhythmically and let every breath express the word Yahveh, and as you express it let your soul-desire go out to him for his power. Think of the words, "I will work, and who shall [or can] reverse it?" Inspire that resistless will. Let your mind be fixed upon God, the Elohim, and upon Yahveh, the God of the universe, and repeat the name Yahveh until your love nature begins to reach out in earnest desire for that power, then will it begin to thrill every fiber of your being; it will make your whole body feel as if it were as invulnerable as a piece of steel; it will create in you a faith that you have in you a power that nothing can resist, and as soon as that faith is established, go forth doing and accomplishing, according to the light of the Spirit; and we, your fellow servant, earnestly pray that the name "Yahveh" may take control of your life, may be the strength in you, the protection and the power to enable you to become like him. Ever keep in mind the words of God recorded in the Scripture:
"The name Yahveh is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."
Divine peace abide with you.
344:* The Orientals worship images of the ideals of their gods, the Catholic church has images of the ideals of the Lord Christ and of the Virgin Mary, and the Protestant church has the image of an ideal man in the mind, and there is really no difference so far as the image is concerned, whether it be materialized or a mental image, it is in the cause world a formation just the same. When man makes an image of the Christ who lived in the form of man, he worships the material body, the flesh, and so do the Pagan nations who worship their idols, which are representations of the flesh.
345:* As "Yahveh Elohim" is the name of the collective Body, we have used it in the singular in many places.
353:* The names "Yahveh" and "Elohim" are connected in different ways in the various books of the Old Testament. For instance, Ezekiel generally uses the form "Elohim Yahveh," while Isaiah generally uses the form "Yahveh Elohim." This may be distinguished in our English translations in the following manner: The words translated "God" and "Lord" written with initial capitals only, are in the Hebrew "Elohim," with the exception that wherever the name "Almighty God" occurs, in the Hebrew it is El Elyon; but when all the letters are capitalized thus, "LORD" or "GOD" these appellations are substitutes for the name "Yahveh." By careful attention to the meaning and use of these names, it will be found that they will reveal many important truths heretofore covered, but in a general way brought to light in this work. The word "Elohim" is not only the name of the great Brotherhood, but its meaning is power; and the name "Yahveh" is not only the name of the Infinite, the All-pervading Spirit, but it expresses the Will, the ability to do and to be, the Almighty Will.