---

Why you should read EVERYMAN'S GOAL (The Expanded Consciousness)

Rebecca Beard, the author, was widely known as a gifted speaker and teacher in the field of spiritual therapy. Her first book, Everyman's Search, went into many editions because it offers practical suggestions to those who seek the deeper awareness of the power of God in their lives.

Dr. Rebecca Beard practised medicine for twenty years until she recognized the tremendous influence that thoughts and emotions have upon the physical body. Her medical experience and research led her to the conviction that, thoughts and emotions are largely responsible for many illnesses, and that by understanding the thoughts and redirecting the emotions, with the ever present help of prayer, lives can be remoulded and bodies healed.


IF YOU will read EVERYMAN'S GOAL carefully and absorb its teaching you can become a different person. Your life can become strong and happy and a demonstration of power. You will learn to get along with others because you will have learned to get along with yourself.

This is an amazing book, amazing in its simple statements of deep truths. I marvel at the manner in which the author makes crystal clear the method for attaining a victorious life. Anyone who reads the book thoughtfully can understand it. The life-victory formula is clearly outlined in a simple, one-two-three manner. The author in effect takes the beginner by the hand and with great kindness and understanding leads them step by step to a far better life than they ever dreamed they could enjoy.

I gladly testify that EVERYMAN'S GOAL has done me great good. I am following its outlined teaching, and find that it works. This is one of the most valuable books I have ever read. It is not only a casual "reading book." It is a workable manual of self-realization, self-expansion, self-freeing. Each time you turn to its pages you will see new possibilities in yourself and the world, and you will receive wise guidance for achieving those possibilities.

The book convinces the reader that if one is willing to pay the price they can overcome want, experience healing, control tension, become a channel for expanded powers—in short, move out of their limited and defeated self into true greatness of living.

In fascinating style the author shows how this highly desired end is attained by the science of life as taught by Jesus.

The book is notable for its common sense, its sound faith and freshly unique outline of the method of releasing creative powers in individuals and in society.

There is a vast new and fresh stream of life flowing out of Christian faith today. It wells forth from many noble minds and hearts. It does not find expression in stereotyped forms, but it is cast in the language and thought-forms of an era trained in scientific understanding of human nature. It has captured the dynamic quality of Jesus' teaching, and believes faith to be not merely an academic or theoretical consideration, but an active, vibrant power. With every passing year the inspired teachers of this vital, scientific, and spiritual approach have guided increasing thousands to a new experience of God's power, through faith in Christ and the practice (note the emphasis)—the practice of His teachings.

In this God-guided group of teachers is Rebecca Beard, one of Christ's most sincere and effective disciples. Doctor of medicine, spiritual teacher, kindly and wise counsellor, Dr. Beard has helped many to find the true way of life. In EVERYMAN'S GOAL hundreds of others will join the growing number of those who are bringing a new dynamic of spiritual force into the life of our time.

Marble Collegiate Church
New York N.Y.


THE EXPANDING consciousness is a growing awareness of God as the only Presence and Power. To be thus consciously aware every moment of One Power is to lose negativeness and fear, bringing instead a sense of one-ness with the Infinite, releasing creative powers hitherto dormant within us, charging us with a smooth and tireless energy, filling us with inner harmony and peace.

Everyman's search is a search for God. Everyman's goal is the expanded consciousness which should come through that search. It must come not only to individuals but to the world. This expanded consciousness is the next great step which mankind must take. We are in the throes of a transition period. Fritz Kunkel, a Doctor of Medicine and an outstanding Christian psychologist, believes that we are in the midst of a great psychological mutation. We are at this moment in the very process of change. That is why the world seems to be in such a chaotic state and why the forces of paganism seem to be rising in power.

It is difficult to change. We become fearful when we stand on the tip edge of the forward step. It is frightening, just as frightening as when Jesus first talked about it two thousand years ago. He is asking us to step out of the little self into the expanded self, to crucify the little ego and bury it deep in His teachings where it may germinate to rise again into the Christ-self.

The choice is ours. In the church and out of the church men and women are hungry to touch God; not alone through creeds or rituals, not alone through priest or ceremony, but to touch Him as Job learned to touch Him so that they may see and know Him in every part of their being. The reality of God can be experienced in life in every moment of every day.

There are many who are Christmas-Easter Christians. Theirs is a sort of fractional religion and is not an integrated part of their living. Fulton Oursler in his new book says that Communism is the result of the failure of Christianity; that Communism is "criticism of Christianity." In saying this, he is voicing what G. K. Chesterton wrote some time ago, "We cannot say that Christianity won't work. It has never been tried!"

We sometimes speak of other countries as "godless countries." Is this perhaps the pot calling the kettle black? As we travel about our beautiful land, we are appalled by the paganism on every side. Are we now at the crossroads—at the place of testing? Strength, conviction and power alone can lead us on the straight path. If we follow through, we shall emerge from this crisis bringing the rest of the world with us.

What holds us back from achieving the expanded consciousness? Do we need to break the old patterns and throw off the bonds of ancient prejudices? The borders of man's tent—his consciousness—must be stretched as he moves forward in wider and wider arcs. He must cross the lines of demarcation; cross the colour lines, the caste lines; cross the lines of creed and nationality. But he must go much further than this. Each one must take his egocentric self and face it, looking at it as the depth psychologists today are urging us to do, in order that we may discover afresh the deep psychology that lies in the teachings of Jesus.

In doing this, we will find the blind spots and the prejudices within us. Then, through prayer and meditation, we can erase these enslaving habit-tracks from our subconscious minds and achieve maturity. Dr. Fritz Kunkel uses the term "depth psychology" to explain the influences that are unconsciously active within us though they are buried in the subconscious memory.

We no longer think in terms of colour or of culture when we come to love with the greater love of the expanded self. As Jesus said, in essence, "It is easy to love those who are like ourselves. It is easy to love the people who are built into the same pattern. It is not difficult to understand and adjust to those on the same ethical level, for even the publicans and sinners do that, but you need to learn to love so that your love—your feeling self—is not blocked by your prejudices and blind spots."

Suppose we stop and think a moment of these blind spots and our attitude toward people of different colour and nationality. How may we wipe out these feelings toward them? By putting ourselves in their place. By accenting our common humanity and human need rather than accentuating our differences and distances.


THE SECOND and third chapters of the book of Revelation hold promises for those who overcome: "To him that overcometh I will give a new name." "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

It is not easy to overcome but the reward is great. This overcoming must not be confused with repression. To "come up over" is to move out of the orbit of temptation into a place of safety.

It is all too evident that habits cannot easily be overcome by resistance or by fighting, for by so doing you but press them more deeply into the subconscious.

Jesus' admonition was, "Don't resist it; overcome it with good!"

If you have thoughts you do not like, then saturate your conscious mind with thoughts you do like. These will sink into your subconscious and presently they will become as fixed there as the undesirable ones were before.

Shakespeare's advice was, "If you haven't a virtue, assume it." Live, act and think as though it were already yours, and it becomes yours. Discard what you do not admire in yourself and appropriate what you do admire. Draw mental pictures. Visualize! Make a new frame of reference and build your life into it. It is easier than you think!

When we create a pattern which will permit the Holy Spirit to flow into our lives, we will find release. The new pattern permits the Holy Spirit to come flowing in until every feeling of emptiness is filled, every craving is satisfied, and every appetite is replete.

You have had moments when you felt that no one cared, that no one considered you important, and your life seemed insignificant and worthless. If such moments have been yours, then you will realize what it would mean suddenly to find yourself surrounded by love, cherished and nurtured. That would be a tremendous experience. Just to feel for a moment that you are somebody would make all the difference in the world. It is when men and women feel they do not amount to anything that they pin a badge upon themselves, "Don't bother with me! I am no good !"

To the world in general such a badge will be read literally, but to the students of Jesus of Nazareth it will be translated into its real meaning, "Help me. I am lost. I need your love and understanding that I may find God." Religion has the remedy. Those who have become aware of God in their lives know that God cares; and to know that God cares shifts the gears.

So for those who seek avenues of escape and for those who rebel against conventional patterns we have only to pray that they may be conformed and filled with God's love. While the gears are being shifted in this process and a new purpose is being born, the silent prayers of those who love them and are nearest to them must reinforce that purpose and strengthen it until they can stand alone. During this time we suggest to those who are with them most intimately to let the prayer for the infilling of the Holy Spirit replace any words of criticism or condemnation they might otherwise be tempted to speak.

Under this technique one young man suddenly stopped drinking. Even over the holiday season he did not fall off the wagon, to his own surprise and that of his wife to whom he said later, "Do you think there could be something wrong with me? I haven't wanted a drink!" How could he want it? He was so completely filled with love that satisfied that there was no desire or craving left.

Alcoholics Anonymous do wonderfully successful work in redeeming men and women because they assure them of God's love and demonstrate that love by their own unselfish solicitude and concern.

Some of the most challenging groups we met in our travels are the A A groups. They have clever ways of helping each other. One group had a motto they used effectively with each other. The letters of the motto were SUED. They used it with motions. The right arm would be raised high with the index finger pointing upward. That meant, "Soul Up." The left arm thrust downward close to the body with the thumb down meant "Ego Down." In a moment of excitement one of them might slip into a bombastic tone of voice, exposing a bit of ego. Then one of the group, laughingly and kindly, would throw up the left arm with the thumb high in the air like a warning signal, "Ego Going Up," and in the laughter that followed the speaker would regain equilibrium.



AND so do we! That is our undoing, as it was Peter's undoing. The Master called Peter to come to Him across the water and Peter came! At least he made a start.

As long as he looked at the Master, he walked upon the water, but the moment he looked down, he sank. In spite of the fact that he had actually walked several steps he still could not believe it, and the seeming impossibility of what he was doing caused him to look down, and go down. Looking away from the spiritual law, he accepted the material law and sank.

We are all Peters at some time. We have all had answers to prayer—marvellous answers—yet many of us come to a place where we slump. We look down and say, "I wonder if I can have the same power again, or have I lost it?" "Am I worthy to use it?"

Now why is it that we slump? It is because we look down! Had Peter kept his eyes on the Master he would have gone all the way to Him. He had actually performed the miracle. He had walked on the water. But the old habit was stronger than the new experience.

You have witnessed the power enabling you to do the seemingly impossible thing, then you have taken your eyes away from the spiritual law to behold the thing you have seen done from the material angle. You relinquish the power momentarily when you fail to keep your eyes upon the Master.

But that which you have gained you cannot lose; it is always there waiting to be recaptured when you lift your eyes and keep the focus single.

One summer at Merrybrook for several weeks we took as the objective of our contemplative prayer life the attainment of the God consciousness. We followed Dr. Bucke's book on Cosmic Consciousness, reading sections of it each day so that we might come closer to the men who had felt the touch of divine illumination. We were seeking to know something of what happened to those in closer communion with the higher consciousness. We wanted to learn not only how to attain it, but how to live more consistently and steadily in the state of illumined consciousness. We grew in the conviction that there should be no slumps in our spiritual lives. We should never go down!

There is a quaint belief that it is impossible for a human being to stay in a high state of consciousness all the time. One of the great weaknesses of our Christian world today is the attitude so often expressed, "But it is not possible for human beings to live up to the lofty principles of Jesus. We are too human." That is a very grievous error. Jesus must have known what we could accomplish or He would not have said to His followers and to us, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." The Father in Heaven is the God-consciousness. He taught them as He teaches us that by discipline and practice we can hope to stay somewhere near the high places.

Naturally, if we feel that it is impossible for us to attain that state promised in Revelation 3:12, where we shall become a pillar of the temple and go no more out, then we are not likely to make the necessary effort to attain it or remain in it. We will give in more readily to the negative thoughts and habits which drag us down.


THE DESERT shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."  A wonderful promise is this, that in a dreary landscape of unfortunate circumstances we need not despair. The fertility of the soil will respond naturally if one will plant and water, trusting God to bring the increase.

There are those who come to us wanting the desert to blossom for them, but who are as yet unwilling to water, to tend or cultivate. There are those who come to us saying, "I want to have my body healed, but I don't want you to try to change me or my way of life."

Underneath that remark one hears unspoken words, "Give me what I want, but don't ask me to pay the price."

This cannot be; for if we know and understand the language and truth of spirit, we must be changed through and through, deep down inside. Thus healing is overcoming. Complete healing is conversion.

The healing of the body is one objective, but the ultimate aim is the man made whole—harmonized, balanced, body, mind and soul. It is true that those who go out to redeem the souls of men heal incidentally. We are like men tunnelling a mountain working from different directions but meeting in the centre. There are those who speak directly to the spirit, and there are those who minister directly to the body, but our ultimate objective is the same.

None of us, of course, claims any power of our own. In this work of redeeming souls and healing bodies we know where the power lies. We know what the power is that heals and redeems. It is God's love.

But we know very little about this highest of love that we think of as Divine. We believe it to be the most potent vibration there is in the universe. It could well be that the substratum of primal energy that eludes our comprehension is pure spirit, and that love is the highest expression of that spirit.

The world often confuses this greatest of all gifts with the kinds of human love we have all known or experienced—the possessive love, the sentimental love, the jealous love, the demanding love, all of which lead us into difficulties. But the love of which we speak is none of these. We have to grow into an understanding of it through the steps of our earthly love-life, and those steps begin when we are born. We come into the world with a dependent love of father and mother or of others who shield us. Parental protection is repeated in our later life through our dependence upon the love of the Father-Mother God.

Coming into maturity the sex love brings one of the most powerful of the biological urges into the fore. It cannot be set aside and cannot be denied, for the continuity of the race depends upon it. It is something to be lifted up, glorified and exalted. Rather than deploring everything about sex and putting it in an air-tight compartment as it were, how much more wonderful it would be if we could teach our children by our own attitudes and reactions that in dealing with the sex urge they are dealing with the same power that holds the planets in their courses; the same law that keeps the world together. It is the law of life working within their bodies.

We need to build in our children and in ourselves a feeling of awe and reverence to replace some of the old Puritanical teachings that have led us far astray into serious psychological pitfalls. Children should be taught frankly of this beautiful relationship between the sexes and of the marvellous power of attraction so that they may stand a little in awe of it, protecting themselves by the realization that it belongs to creation and not to man and fulfils the purpose of God.

Through this intimate relationship with another in marriage, we meet the demand of self-sacrifice and learn more difficult lessons of giving up the ego. In loving another and wanting the happiness of that one, we must check ourselves so that we will not do the things that will cause unhappiness.

Later, when children come, we find as parents an even greater love growing within us; a love willing to sacrifice even life itself for the children. From this point on, if we continue to grow in love, we expand in our relationship to all humanity and so we "grow in grace" and come nearer and nearer to the Divine love.

---