Why so many problems in relationships?

Human relations are always a problem. People are always a problem when we have them as human beings. So the answer is to not have human beings in our experience, but only to have I. Almost every problem appears as a person — good, bad or indifferent. And much of our fear arises out of the belief that there is some person who can do something to us of a harmful nature. Some person who can withhold something from us. And so we go about looking at every person — as human beings, not you and I, but human beings — looking at every person as a potential enemy instead of realizing that every person we meet is Myself. When we see that it is easy to love our neighbor. Easy if we can recognize that our neighbor is that same God appearing as individual being, as is appearing as my individual being. Having God as individual being, there is no person to be harmful or hurtful, or to do us injury, or to do us good.

And that brings us to this basic principle again. Our dependence is not on persons. We look not for our good to any person. No one can do anything to us. We do it to ourselves, never doubt that. That’s a hard thing and yet it’s a beautiful thing. Because we can change at any time and wake up out of whatever mesmerism we are laboring under. Our consciousness, being infinite, is the source of our experience and nothing is going to take place outside of that consciousness. In the degree in which we are aware that there is only the one Presence and the one Power do we experience that. And then everyone we meet becomes an instrument for love and good to us. It appears outwardly as whatever is our need. Our consciousness appears outwardly as the harmony of our relationships, as the love that comes to us, as people, innumerable friends. But it will all be our consciousness appearing outwardly. That’s the thing.

It looks as if our good comes and our evil comes from out here, from this one or that one. There is nothing that can happen to us except as an activity of consciousness. Nothing of good. Whatever of evil happens to us is that impersonal suggestion or temptation that we have accepted of two powers. It isn’t we, its an impersonal nothingness. And separate it from yourself knowing that it is not you and that removes all sense of guilt. Too many people walk around with a feeling of guilt. Let us be done with that and see that if in any way we have failed to measure up, it was just the universal mesmerism and it never happened to the I of our being. It had no place in that divine consciousness which is our individual consciousness. Set every person free in his Christhood, but above all, set yourself free.

The reason I am sure that there is so little love in this human world is because we have not learned to set ourselves free in love. We have not learned to love ourselves, so how can we love our neighbor? Love yourself, for your self is worthy of love and honor and respect. For your self is God appearing, and that’s the only self you have. That thing we call personal sense, the personal sense of self never was anything. People spend so much time struggling and battling that personal sense of self so now as of this moment wake up and know that you have no self other than the one Self. Knowing that, centering your attention on that — that personal sense of self, which is only a mind concept, a mental image — falls by the wayside and dissolves from lack of feeding, lack of attention. Live out from the divine self that you are. Abide in that truth that God is your being. And the longer you dwell on that, the more this little personal sense of self that we think is something falls away and dissolves into the nothingness it always was. We were just buffaloed by it, eluded to believe it’s something.