7rcTIX1xP

The Seventh Lesson: The Unfoldment of Consciousness.599
that Knows; Fearlessness; Restfulness; Satisfaction. Then he is able to say
understandingly and with meaning “I am.”
This Ego Consciousness is coming to many as a dawning knowledge—the
light is just rising from behind the hills. To others it has come gradually and
slowly, but fully, and they now live in the full light of the consciousness.
Others it has burst upon like a flash, or vision—like a light falling from the
clear sky, almost blinding them at first, but leaving them changed men and
women, possessed of that something that cannot be understood by or
described to those who have not experienced it. This last stage is called
“Illumination” in one of its forms.
The man of the Ego Consciousness may not understand the Riddle of the
Universe or be able to give an answer to the great Questions of Life—but
he has ceased to worry about them—they now disturb him not. He may use
his intellect upon them as before, but never with the feeling that in their
intellectual solution rests his happiness or peace of mind. He knows that he
stands on solid rock, and though the storms of the world of matter and force
may beat upon him, he will not be hurt. This and other things he knows.
He cannot prove these things to others, for they are not demonstrable by
argument—he himself did not get them in that way. And so he says but
little about it—but lives his life as if he knew them not, so far as outward
appearances go. But inwardly he is a changed man—his life is different from
that of his brothers, for while their souls are wrapped in slumber or are
tossing in troubled dreams, his Soul has awakened and is gazing upon the
world with bright and fearless eyes. There are, of course, different stages
or degrees of this Consciousness, just as there are in the lower planes of
consciousness. Some have it to a slight degree, while others have it fully.
Perhaps this lesson will tell some of its readers just what is the thing that
has “happened” to them and which they hesitate to speak of to their closest
friend or life companion. To others it may open the way to a fuller realization.
We sincerely trust so, for one does not begin to Live until he knows the “I”
as Reality.