An Excerpt from Chapter 7 in Beyond Words and Thoughts:
“World Work for All Infinite Way Students”
Humanity is now faced with the question of survival. Therefore, everyone who has attained enough spiritual endowment to help relieve individuals of their pains, sins, diseases, lacks, and limitations must inevitably turn to the larger subject of world work, or praying for the world. In carrying on this work, it must be remembered that we do not pray that our enemies be defeated and that our allies achieve victories. We do not pray for the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or the Socialist Party, because all such prayers bring us down to the level of attempting to improve the human scene in terms of our own human judgment of what is good and right.
In order to pray aright, we must not pray for any earthly condition. Even though we might believe that we have a plan which would save the world, we do not pray for its success. There never has been a man on earth so good that he would know how to make laws which would benefit everyone. No one has ever been that intelligent. Since humanhood is based on the law of self-preservation, nothing of a human nature will save the world. …
Praying for the world does not mean praying for peace on earth because that is praying for an effect. We can pray only that the kingdom of God be realized on earth as it is in heaven, and then that realization will bring peace.
If, through our experiences with a spiritual message, we have had some proof that in the presence of the Christ the carnal mind is not power, then we can go on to the greater realization that the carnal mind is the “arm of flesh,”[1] or nothingness. If we can become convinced that the carnal mind is a nothingness, we should have no trouble at all in engaging in world work because, whether it is manifesting as one individual or as a billion individuals, there is only one carnal mind. When we can perceive that the carnal mind is nonpower in the realization of the presence of the Christ, we are helping nullify it for the world.
It is not enough to know that the carnal mind is not power. We must know that it is ONLY in the realization of the presence of the Christ that it is not power. The carnal mind is power on its own level of action. Those who want to drop bombs will drop them, unless and until the activity of the Christ stops them. Nothing else is going to stop them. It is only when this carnal mind comes into contact with the Christ, with our individual Christ-consciousness, that it is proved to be of no power. Wherever Jesus moved with his Christ-activated consciousness, sin, disease, and death disappeared on his coming. So, too, it is with each one of us. Wherever we move with some measure of spiritual endowment, some measure of sin and disease must dissolve.
Since we are in agreement that there is but one carnal mind, there is no reason why “ten righteous men”[2] should not nullify the carnal mind for the whole world. Everyone is not receptive, but fortunately we do not have to wait for everyone. We need be concerned only with the realization that the activity of the Christ in our consciousness dispels the carnal mind.
When I engage in spiritual work, it is not for the purpose of changing any set of human circumstances. My only interest is the realization of the activity of the Christ dissolving mortal sense. Remember, there is only one claim, the claim that the carnal mind has power and that it not only can have evil power, but sometimes it can even have good power. …
If we were to pray to remove the sins of our friends, relatives, or community, and if we succeeded, what would be attained? The human mind is still there and is always fertile ground to take on more sins, and so tomorrow we would have to pray to remove those sins. That is why the Master taught that if one error is removed, we may be making room for seven more to enter. So we are not really setting out to make man better and we are not praying that he lose his sins: we are praying that the activity of the Christ take over his consciousness. When it does, there is no sin left in it because there is no room for sin in the Christ-mind.
[1] 2 Chronicles 32:8
[2] Genesis 18:32