ust actually include the self-offering of every
human being in the acknowledgment (however unknown to his _objective_
mentality) of his sin. If we can grasp this somewhat abstract point of view
it follows that in the Person of Christ every human being, past, present,
and to come, was self-offered for the condemnation of his sin--a _self_-
condemnation and a _self_-offering, and hence a cleansing, for the simple
reason that if you can get a man to realize his past error, really see his
mistake, he won't do it again; and it is the perpetuation of sin and error
that has to be got rid of--to do this universally would be to regain
Paradise. Seen therefore in this light there is no question of transference
of moral guilt, and I take it this is St. Paul's meaning when he speaks of
our being partakers in Christ's death.

Then there is the objection, How can past sins be done away with? If we
accept the philosophical conclusion that Time has no substantive existence
then all that remains is states of consciousness. As I have said in the
earlier part of this book, the Self-Contemplation of Spirit is the cause of
all our perception of existence and environment; and consequently if the
Self-Contemplation of the Spirit from any center of individualization is
that of entire harmony and the absence of anything that would cause any
consciousness of separation, then past sins cease to have any part in this
self-recognition, and consequently cease to have any place in the world of
existence. The foundation of the whole creative process is the calling into
Light out of Darkness--"that which makes manifest is light"--and
consequently the converse action is that of sending out of Light into
Darkness, that is, into Notbeing. Now this is exactly what the Spirit says
in the Bible--"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions"
(Isaiah xliii: 25). Blotting out is the sending out of manifestation into
the darkness of non-manifestation, out of Being into Not-being; and in this
way the past error ceases to have any existence and so ceases to have any
further effect upon us. It is "blotted out," and from this new standpoint
has never been at all; so that to continue to contemplate it is to give a
false sense of existence to that which in effect has no existence. It is
that Affirmation of Negation which is the root of all evil. It is the
inversion of our God-given creative power of thought, calling into
existence that which in the Perfect Lif