Action

Action is defined as “literally, a driving; hence, the state of acting or moving; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; or action is the effect of power exerted on one body by another; motion produced. Hence, action is opposed to rest. Action when produced by one body on another, is mechanical; when produced by the will of a living being, it is spontaneous or voluntary.”—WAD.

An action is defined as “an act or thing done; a deed. In ethics, actions are the external signs or expression of the sentiments of a moral agent; conduct; behavior; demeanor; that is, motion or movement, with respect to a rule or propriety. In oratory, an action is a gesture or gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the accommodation of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance to the subject, or to the thoughts and feelings of the mind. In physiology, actions are the motions or functions of the body, vital, animal and natural; vital and involuntary, as the action of the heart and lungs; animal, as muscular, and all voluntary motions; natural, as digestion. In law, an action is literally, an urging for right; a suit or process, by which a demand is made of a right; a claim made before a tribunal.”—WAD.


“Action is how you let God operate through you as the Light.”—Edna Lister


“In many cases action and act are synonymous; but some distinction between them is observable. action seems to have more relation to the power that acts, and its operation and process of acting; and act, more relation to the effect or operation complete. action is also more generally used for ordinary transactions; and act, for such as are remarkable, or dignified; as, all our actions should be regulated by prudence; a prince is distinguished by acts of heroism or humanity.”—WAD.

A modern definition of action is “the state or process of acting or doing; behavior or conduct.” To act means “to play a part, a role, to perform, to behave like; to carry out an action; to operate or function in a specific way; to serve or function as a substitute for another.”—OED.

Action is the product of choice or decision. On the Via Christa, we use the life of Jesus the Christ as our template for the right way to be and the right way to do, as perfect action. Action is the most obvious law of doing. Action is how you permit or let God, as the Light, to operate through you.

Action is an abstract principle, a law of doing, and a Via Christa Degree. In the personal sense, Action, with Consecration and Bravery, forms the fifth lesser Via Christa trinity, whose keynote is Sacrifice. In the universal sense, Action is the keynote of the eighth lesser Via Christa trinity, which includes the degrees of Power, Love and Wisdom.

British scientist and mathematician Isaac Newton formulated three Laws of Motion in his Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis in 1686. His first law of motion states that every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. Galileo (1564-1642) had prefigured the basis for Newton’s first law of motion as the law of inertia.

Newton’s second law of motion states that the force acting on an object is equal to the mass of that object times its acceleration. In other words, if you double the force, you double the acceleration, but if you double the mass, you cut the acceleration in half.

Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Paul Hewitt, author of Conceptual Physics, expressed this phenomenon as, "You cannot touch without being touched." On the Via Christa, we call this the law of correspondence and reciprocity.

An excellent thought experiment is to ponder how Newton’s three laws of motion act in the emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of life, as well as in the gross physical. Each of these realms of reality has its own particular "mass" and "force." Spirit, thoughts and emotions all have some degree of weight and power.

Action is an abstract principle, a law of doing, and a Via Christa Degree. Action is how you permit or let God, as the Light, to operate through you. Action is the most obvious law of doing. In the personal sense, Action, with Consecration and Bravery, forms the fifth lesser Via Christa trinity, whose keynote is Sacrifice. In the universal sense, Action is the keynote of the eighth lesser Via Christa trinity, which includes the degrees of Power, Love and Wisdom.







Edna Lister on Action

Life is action, no matter where you are. – Edna Lister, October 10, 1925.


Religion is the term used to designate the activity of manifestation, or God in action. Religion includes all that is. – Edna Lister, Release the Indwelling Power, January 11, 1933.


Always exhibit graciousness. Do not pity the self. Be gracious, and you cannot avoid lifting the whole family. Radiate graciousness. You have the ability, so use it. God sends you those who need your help. Lift people with a sense that you are privileged to do so. The Power goes into action to lift the person so that the good governs him, not the self. – Edna Lister, January 16, 1933.


If you live by the Supreme Trinity of Mind, Substance and Power, you never have to fight or to justify your actions. – Edna Lister, January 31, 1933.


Contact is “a connection for the passage of an electric current from one thing to another; the action of communicating or meeting.” Continuity is “the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over time; a state of stability and the absence of disruption; a connection or line of development with no sharp breaks.”

Contact means to be in touch with. Continuity is the power to continue acting forever, which is God’s ability. Light is primary substance, the pure essence of life sparks as atomic substance. You create outer form through the combustive action of Light, contact, and continuity. – Edna Lister, Contact, Continuity and Light, March 29, 1934.


The purpose of creation is to embody the Creative Impulse, which is then sustained through creation. The Creative Impulse acts as the free action of an inner urge, such as a released impulse of art through expansion. Any creative desire expands the Creative Impulse. – Edna Lister, Desire, September 5, 1934.


You can study a person’s inner life by watching his outer form, actions, speech, by listening to his thoughts and dreams, etc. – Edna Lister, Do We Need Psychology? September 17, 1934.


You are a radiant being of Light. Light describes both radiance and weight. Supreme Light melts, lifts heaviness. You do not need to hurry, for Light will speed you up, while you rest up in the Light. A dynamo needs to run for only a short period to generate the power needed for an entire day. Light lifts you from action to action, in divine activity. – November 2, 1934.


Wisdom should precede action. – Edna Lister, January 11, 1935.


Your actions and appearance speak louder than words. – Edna Lister, January 12, 1935.


The Golden Rule is to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” which refers to interactions between people. It is a standard, a measure of action, a degree of excellence required for a particular purpose. The Golden Rule will lead any soul back to Light.

The law that Jesus taught, condensed into the Golden Rule, requires you to conquer self, to become law, and to do as the Christ principle dictates. The Christed standard of action always has two phases, action and reaction: The giving is the action, and the receiving is the reaction. If your action is giving love, faith or joy, it will automatically create expansion, leading you and others toward the Light. Anything less creates contraction, which blocks you from greater Light. – Edna Lister, Your Standard of Action, March 22, 1935.


Moral evil is falsehood in a man’s actions. – Edna Lister, March 30, 1935.


Every soul is subject to God’s justice eventually. You may hide your words, actions, and deeds from others, but not from divine omniscience. – Edna Lister, March 30, 1935.


God’s principles are the rules of man’s action. – Edna Lister, May 25, 1935.


God has gifted man with His fundamental principles to apply in his choices of action: wisdom to plan, love to sustain, and selflessness to create. Every aspect of the universe is subject to the cyclic law of action and reaction. – Edna Lister, Law and How it Works, August 11, 1935.


The whole world is God’s Temple. Because the universe itself is a creation of God as the All That Is, the very action of life is the great field for spiritual improvement. Every action has a spiritual end. – Edna Lister, August 24, 1935.


Creation is God’s thought manifest in form. The action in God’s mind results in the reaction in man. Every action in man is a spiritual reaction. – Edna Lister, Philosophy, December 9, 1935.


The first key to success is action. – Edna Lister, February 14, 1937.


The keys which unlock the door of truth also unlock the doors of heaven or hell, for action based on falsehood or deception leads to discord and destruction; while action based on verity leads to harmony and eternal life. – Edna Lister, November 4, 1937.


You are responsible for your words and actions in any group. – Edna Lister, July 24, 1938.


Beware of lukewarmness, which will lure the self with thoughts of needed rest, ideas of overwork, of too great burdens, of too great effort to make needed sacrifices. Lashing the self into action is better than to delay or fail to act. Better to lash the self into surrender rather than to leave the retribution of law to God. One gives you many credits and indulgences, the other demerits. – Edna Lister, October 27, 1938.


Impatience and doubt may cause delay but do not stop action. – Edna Lister, November 14, 1938.


Faith is the first greatest motivator in your life and includes all other action. The action of faith permeates darkness with a piercing Light and all doors open to you. – Edna Lister, September 1, 1939.


You must assume responsibility for all your past actions, and willingly pay any associated soul debts. – Edna Lister, January 2, 1939.


Change your actions and your soul shall soar as on wings of eagles, strong and vital. – Edna Lister, October 20, 1939.


Hold to the high course of action. – Edna Lister, October 29, 1939.


Every action is subject either to reward or to punishment, both of which are the reactions of law. – Edna Lister, November 13, 1940.


You must see only Light in the other person’s actions or words. – Edna Lister, November 19, 1940.


Truth is your highest present concept of action, in mind. Truth is your idea of the Christ-like thing to be, the Christ-like thing to do, the Christ-like thing to say. – Edna Lister, January 29, 1941.


Your own actions speak louder than your words. – Edna Lister, November 13, 1941.


God is the Absolute All, which we may perceive as the phenomenon of relative parts in expression. God in action as the process of Creation is all that is invisible and all that can become visible. – Edna Lister, A Design for Ascension, March 1942.


Absolute omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence operate in time and space through three primary laws of action described by philosophical statements of being. Omniscience operates through the law of degree and kind: Everything is now good after its own degree and kind. Omnipresence operates through the law of becoming: God gives Substance the power of becoming. Mind must condition it. Omnipotence operates through the law of freedom of choice: God gives the living soul freedom of choice (often called free will), the power of conscious direction and control over substance. – Edna Lister, A Design for Ascension, March 1942.


You often become intuitively aware of something before you pay attention to it. Thus, perception forms a trinity of awareness, attention, and action. When you reach the action stage, you do something about it; you start something new, or do one thing a day for an old project. – Edna Lister, Awareness, May 3, 1942.


Those who are warned against unwise actions seek to avoid any I-told-you-so reproaches. It takes much prayer based in pure love and extra deep compassion to reach them. When you have had enough, plenty, all the experience you can stand, you will return. Better to gain it now than to waste another lifetime, for when you must have experience on earth or feel cheated of life while here, regardless of the heights attained, you are sent all the way back to get it. Sometimes a soul takes the downward step of self-indulgence with no regard to laws of convention or dignity. Yet, each must gain all needed experience-knowledge. The experience that seems hardest to bear is usually the very event that makes for your protection. – Edna Lister, January 30, 1944.


When you find fault with earthly actions, God writes it in His records as a complaint of the initiation, and if the complaints continue, the initiation is moved back where it is easy. Can you gain the Crown that way? – Edna Lister, December 15, 1944.


Be observant of self-delusions, to speak truth on each thought, action, or desire of self. It teaches law and forms a bulwark against misuse of law. – Edna Lister, January 4, 1945.


See the Light as it shines forth to direct the action. – Edna Lister, July 20, 1945.


You can become instant in right action, mind, law, performance, practice, and perfection. You have the ability to do this. – Edna Lister, August 18, 1945.


Do not do what is not right for all the world to do always. If the word or action cannot go forth into the world everywhere for everyone to repeat, do not do it. – Edna Lister, September 19, 1945.


The thinking process really involves all the faculties, physical, mental and spiritual. It takes twenty years of conditioning to translate logic, reasoning, discernment, discrimination, and discretion into the instantaneous directors of motion or action. It’s a misconception that this twenty years must begin at birth. The law of life is that any twenty years of time will suit, if you will devote your soul powers to discipline and conquering the self to become a perfect instrument for God to use. – Edna Lister, October 14, 1945.


Analyze your actions to discern whether emotional or mental selfishness is dictating them. – Edna Lister October 14, 1945.


The fundamental principles of doing are energy, action, and expression. – Edna Lister, May 14, 1946.


Poise is dynamic powerful action. – Edna Lister, The Word Made Flesh, January 5, 1947.


Let your prayers be loud and your actions be silent. – Edna Lister, Jesus, the Giver of Life, February 2, 1947.


You cannot finish anything in darkness. Only the Light finishes any action. – Edna Lister, May 4, 1947.


You are supposed to live above your ears! Ascend into your mental room of Light. Observe. Plan your attitude and actions first, before you enter a new situation, then move in and do. – Edna Lister, June 17, 1947.


Law allows no excuse or justification, ever. Excusing or justifying your words or actions is disgraceful for an ascending one. – Edna Lister, July 5, 1947.


Act as a creator god. The world is in chaos because the Elect have not acted as creators. The choice of action is yours. Someone must start thinking and acting as a creator. You use the same brain cells, glands and emotional life to pleasure the self or to create as a god. – Edna Lister, August 10, 1947.


Logic opens as a faculty when you meet an unchangeable principle or fact that you cannot alter or interpret to suit your theories or to justify your actions or statements. The application of logic leads to right thinking, which can recondition your life into perfection. – Edna Lister, November 13, 1947.


As far as I have gone in soul flights, absolute timelessness is the rule — an event that occurs in absolute time is an instantaneous miracle. Time, as we think of it, is relative, and God rules the universe and everything in it by using time as the spacing between action and reaction. Any action without proper timing results in chaos. – Edna Lister, November 24, 1947.


You can conquer only by learning to do so in the field of action. Being alone does no good. Being tested in the fire is the only way. – Edna Lister, December 13, 1947.


In action, do it right; do not just be careful. – Edna Lister, January 8, 1948.


Let God be the judge as to actions, as to debts contracted and as to right or wrong. – Edna Lister, January 26, 1948.


Assume all blame arising from your actions. – Edna Lister, April 19, 1948.


If you justify your actions, you are equally guilty of making excuses for the self. It is disgraceful to excuse or justify your words or actions. – Edna Lister, May 3, 1948.


Prayers of self-justification do not ascend when you justify your own actions, for you are guilty of excuses made to the self, for the self. – Edna Lister, May 3, 1948.


Dig out old actions and leave them out, every negative past action. Don’t continue to think about them, or you recreate them. – July 1949.


The higher you climb, the higher your sense of responsibility for your actions must become. – Edna Lister, September 3, 1949.


Power is the heritage of all Christed Ones. You brought all the necessary powers into this life, the Mind to plan, and Power to execute the required actions. – Edna Lister, Power, Your Divine Inheritance, December 11, 1949.


Balanced action is always "doing the next thing next," with your eyes on the Light while ignoring outer appearances. – Edna Lister, Pentecost, the Way of Ascension, May 7, 1950.


Faith is action. Hope is expression. Love is execution. You may sum your life with these three words. You gain all experiences and accomplishments through action, expression and execution. – Edna Lister, Promises Fulfilled, September 24, 1950.


All action is rooted in the desire to do. – Edna Lister, Promises Fulfilled, September 24, 1950.


When you try long enough, your effort becomes an act of faith. You must go through the action of trying between the stages of blind faith and belief, until your knowing and faith are one. The initiations through which you cleanse “little me” arise in the interval of your struggle from belief to faith, from trying to doing. – Edna Lister, The First Days, June 17, 1951.


You have an affinity for whatever comes to you. If you do not like the reaction, change your action. – Edna Lister, Be-Attitudes, June 19, 1951.


Light is God in action. – Edna Lister, June 25, 1951.


No one can separate his faith from his actions, or his beliefs from his occupation. – Edna Lister, May 22, 1952.


Love, the desire principle, acts through Wisdom, the will principle, to decide, which is how you make up your mind. Energy is the action principle that enables you to act on your decision. – Edna Lister, Is Mind Important? June 15, 1952.


You fulfill your desire in five steps. First, the concept exists in divine Mind. Then it becomes an idea through your use of Mind. Third, you apply your faculties of logic, reason, discernment, discrimination and discretion through the thinking process. You use Mind to plan, build, direct and control your destiny. Fourth, you apply the spoken Word by making declarations, decrees or statements to open a vibration of action, which you preface by "Let" and complete with "This is good" to energize substance. Finally, your miracle takes on form as you fulfill it. – Edna Lister, Is Mind Important? June 15, 1952.


Good is God’s action on earth. – Edna Lister, The Golden Chalice, September 21, 1952.


Service to God is the best action. – Edna Lister, The Mantle of Messiahship, October 12, 1952.


As your measuring rod to compare each action, use only your greatest moment of highest exaltation of love and devotion to the point of melting surrender. – Edna Lister, June 3, 1953.


Lack of coordination in action is the cause of wrong action. Spiritual coordination makes our actions an act, not a process. – Edna Lister, Success Through Divine Action, July 14, 1953.


When nonresistance moves through you, it is the most dynamic Power action of the universe. – Edna Lister, Dynamic Nonresistance, October 2, 1953.


Free will is God in action, and evil cannot touch it. – Edna Lister, October 19, 1953.


Righteousness is soul vision in action. – Edna Lister, November 18, 1953.


Lift your lines of Light not by talk, but by action, by doing. “By their works ye shall know them.” – Luke 13:26. – Edna Lister, Seeing the Salvation of God, November 22, 1953.


Each action has a tone, and sets the quality of a vibration. – Edna Lister, November 25, 1953.


Assessing the quality of action: The action of free will is smooth, sweet and rhythmic, but the exercise of self-centered will runs on a flat tire. – Edna Lister, Righteousness, April 7, 1954.


God’s Creation has the potential of all good but His manifestation is in a state of flux. Principle never changes, but when God becomes personality and form, action increases, and this makes for an expanding God. You must expand as love to return to God after gaining experience. – Edna Lister, July 19, 1954.


When God puts a dynamic personality in the limelight, the masses learn from their actions. General Douglas MacArthur and Senator Joseph McCarthy are good examples of this. – Edna Lister, October 10, 1954.


“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” – John 1:1-4. “In the beginning was the Word” describes all Light in the Source. “The Word was with God” as principle. “The Word was God” as personality. “The life was the light of men” means “Light was the Source of men.” All general action proceeds from Light to color to tone to number, until it reaches form, which manifests on the spoken Word as you name it. The Word, when spoken — put into action — starts the personalized vibration of creation in manifestation. – Edna Lister, Four Phases of the Word, February 1, 1955.


As a servant of the Divine, used by all Power and all Love, God’s attributes and qualities move forth as your actions. – Edna Lister, Salvation Through Faith, July 10, 1955.


Everyone has some code of action, arrived at consciously or unconsciously. Your obedience to law dictates your code of action’s degree of honor. – Edna Lister, Enfolding Back to the Source, July 22, 1955.


Law gives you a perfect code of action. – Edna Lister, The Art of Right Thinking and Expression, September 16, 1955.


Decree and declare, then let the Power do the work while you remain busy doing the next thing next. Never let go or let down while you wait upon the action of law to do the work. The law knows when to let the Power move as and through you. – Edna Lister, The Lord Has Need of Thee, March 25, 1956.


Every great accomplishment on earth has been based in faith, which underwrites every miracle, and every desire. You have no enthusiasm or incentive without faith, the motive power of all action. Faith is the Power of God in action. – Edna Lister, The Pathway of Faith, May 6, 1956.


Without action, you have no point of contact between applying what you know to what you do. – Edna Lister, I’m a Millionaire, May 6, 1956.


Use the mental faculties before acting: Stop, and bring logic, reason, discernment, discrimination and discretion to bear on the matter at hand. Pause for this process, then speak or act (action). For an immediate answer, look up, ascend instantly to your room of Light, ask and thank the Father for answer, then wait for answer. – Edna Lister, June 26, 1956.


Truth is God in action as principle through you. You have as much God in action as the truth you express. – Edna Lister, Truth, Your Plan, October 21, 1956.


As your measuring rod to compare each action, use your greatest moment of highest exalted love, devotional to the point-of-melting surrender of self. You shall become through doing, as the perfected instrument of glory, and the keynote is in the word doing. – Edna Lister, November 2, 1956.


You modify the Word to suit the human mind and personalize it as the sacrifice of selfishness. Life is modified action that you personalize as unselfish service. Light is modified creation, and you personalize it as selfless expression. – Edna Lister, The Light, Your Expression, November 4, 1956.


Life is God as action. – Edna Lister, The Light, Your Expression, November 5, 1956.


You must have a desire for something better, greater than is available now before you can take action. – Edna Lister, Fresh Manna Every Day, July 21, 1957.


All growth and unfolding must come from a base of desire; otherwise no action will result. When desire dies, you do nothing. – Edna Lister, Heavenly Manna, September 22, 1957.


Action is the keynote of the Christ life. – Edna Lister, As I See the World, June 15, 1958.


All bumbling results from and creates cross-vibration. Let your actions not belie your words. – Edna Lister, January 2, 1958.


Always apply what you know to what you are doing, for this is the secret of all success in every walk of life and in every form of action. – Edna Lister, February 2, 1958.


Nerves are the sentinels of action, or open channels for divine action. Any problem with nerves shows a lack of spiritual, mental, emotional and imaginative protection. – Edna Lister, March 17, 1958.


When Jesus seated the multitudes by 50s and by 100s, the mystical action helped produce the miracle of increase. You draw yourself out of the world when you encircle yourself in Light, and it protects you from evil and good. Jesus created a vacuum that drew invisible substance into the loaves and fishes. Another mystical action is the position of your hands in prayer or meditation: Some schools of thought instruct you to put your hands on your knees to meditate. This action turns the Power in on itself within you, in a closed figure-eight loop from sacrum to spleen to navel and back again. Lift your hands up to enter the Garden of Eden. – Edna Lister, May 6, 1958.


A Star in the Father’s Crown is so busy doing what she must do that she has no time for self and is always amazed when spoken to about self. She takes no credit because she can do nothing more than be herself. – Edna Lister, May 8, 1958.


You are responsible for those in your family. If they are obviously doing a wrong and need to be told about it, pray without taking it into your aura, which is taking it personally. Eventually someone else will speak to them about their actions. Yet if you must do the admonishing, the Father will put the words on your lips at the right time. Put this on a cloud altar and pray about it. Say, “Father, please let this be made right.” Put it on the altar, forget it and love the person. – Edna Lister, June 26, 1958.


When your actions become dull and uninspired, you have hit a plateau, created by some crystallization. Arising from this dreary indifference is hard. Ask for more Light to move through and lift. – Edna Lister, July 24, 1958.


The Ten Commandments are called laws of right action. – Edna Lister, Ten Commandments and Beatitudes, November 4, 1958.


Law is that which is derived from principle to govern, regulate and control the action of creators. – Edna Lister, March 12, 1959.


The Via Christa expands the definitions of the cardinal virtues and directions to form a foursquare foundation for right action and rebuilding the Temple of the Soul: Temperance (east) is standing upright as perfect balance and poise under Light. Prudence (south) is agreeing first with God that all that comes to us is good, then adjusting to others without arguing. Fortitude (west) is standing on principle, holding fast to truth and knowing that God works all things together for good. Justice (north) is stainless honor of soul above all, expressed as loyalty to God as your Source first, before earthly loyalties. – Edna Lister, The 33 Degrees of Soul Conquering: What Is Symbolism? October 6, 1959.


The absolute abstract laws of being are the controlling, governing power of God in action as fundamental principles, which regulate all energy going into action and to create things. These primary laws deal with being, and serve to protect creation.

The subordinate relative laws of doing deal with expression and action; they apply to visible and material things and egos. Laws of doing do not set aside fundamental abstract principles or laws of being, but are modified from abstract principles to suit the time, individual intelligence, the nation, civilization, state of consciousness, phase of growth, etc. Fundamental principles are absolute and abstract laws of being; laws of doing are concrete and relative, not whole and complete. – Edna Lister, How Can I Help Myself? May 31, 1960.


Draw upon God’s infinite Power. Make it a soul faculty; power is vigor and energy, the ability to do or to act. Power is a faculty of judges and leaders. This Power is God as action through you and as you. Use it as a term of encouragement, as in "More power to you," for it evokes the other fellow’s full power faculty. – Edna Lister, Your Measure of Power, June 12, 1960.


Quantity operates under the principle of inaction or inertia. Quality operates under the principle of action. Quickness operates under the principle of reaction. Quietness operates under the principle of counter-action. – Edna Lister, Is Faith Enough? June 21, 1960.


The keynote of waiting is action. To “wait” means to be a waiter, to pay attention, to give courtesy and service with consideration. I make myself good and the other fellow happy. I give God the consideration of my love. – Edna Lister, How Do I Wait Upon the Lord? June 28, 1960.


You are to be silence in action, silence as action. – Edna Lister, September 25, 1960.


When you get into action and do, you become law and no longer just talk about it. – Edna Lister, October 11, 1960.


The Word is a name for God in action. It deals with God as principle, not God as personality. Your spoken Word is like unto God; it sets God’s wholeness into action. – Edna Lister, Invisible in a Mist, June 25, 1961.


Jesus’ whole message was about right action. He planned to break the soul’s bondage to the little self, and to lift the lower part of the soul up to the higher soul. The theme of his message was to lift all conflict between dark and light, good and evil, on the outer, between the lower self and the higher soul forever. You must be at one within yourself before you can become one with God. – Edna Lister, Your Key to Right Action, October 1, 1961.


Training in paying strict attention to what is being said or is happening around you leads to Christed consciousness. Such training includes observation, attention, and action. – Edna Lister, March 27, 1962.


All your earthly actions must be as high in honor as an act of devotion. Unless you make your choices in honor to God, you will blunder and fail. – Edna Lister, February 27, 1963.


God’s form on earth, expressing as action, is humanity, using the creative tools of ascension — desire, thinking, and imagination. – Edna Lister, God as Personality: Seven Stages of Descent, November 12, 1963.


The Christos characteristic is always to be alive and aware in action under acceptance and surrender. – Edna Lister, December 19, 1963.


Personality represents the soul’s action. Wisdom is all law. Love is all law as action. – Edna Lister, Love and Wisdom, February 7, 1964.


The Ten Commandments explain man’s obedient relation to God through the wisdom principle. They teach you how to stand firm and worship God on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. Since they teach obedience on the active principle of doing (thou shalt, thou shalt not), we call them laws of right action. Each commandment is a key to an initiation, and the overall theme is ascension of consciousness through obedience to God. – Edna Lister, Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes, April 21, 1964.


Attention to detail includes idle words, the greatest and most often abused detail. Attend to the details of all your actions on the outer; every thought, idea, emotion and physical act. – Edna Lister, April 22, 1965.


Faith is the first action. God acted as perfect faith in the beginning when He said, “Let there be Light.” Faith is the ability to use inner vision, being able to see it beforehand and believe that law will work as the principles of cause and effect, action and reaction. – Edna Lister, Eternity Is Now Mine, May 9, 1965.


The mysteries of the Son reveal the right use of principle in action. – Edna Lister, January 12, 1966.


The Creative Impulse is God in action. – Edna Lister, February 13, 1966.


When you put an absolute principle into action, it becomes relative. – Edna Lister, The Arrow Path of the Master, June 7, 1966.


Substance is faith in action. – Edna Lister, May 24, 1967.


As you become law without first consciously thinking about doing the right thing, your choice of the right words, the right action shall become as unconscious as your breathing and heartbeat. – Edna Lister, February 22, 1968.


Wisdom is the Father principle of all potential; Love is the Mother principle of personality, representing action. Wisdom is all law, and Love is all law as action. The mating of Love and Wisdom gives firmness and boldness to all action. When Love and Wisdom are one, they beget nonresistance, the greatest, the most powerful of all laws. – Edna Lister, Love and Wisdom, February 7, 1965.


Science and religion are one; they are two names for God in action. – Edna Lister, Laws for Divine Living, February 19, 1970.


The white Light of Christ permeates and penetrates us, and we use it as action. – Edna Lister, The Keys to Revelation, May 12, 1970.

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Treatment for Right Action

“I AM always alive and alert to give thoughtful attention to all that I do. With understanding certainty, I find the work I love to do. A thousand channels that work unceasingly for my good lead me to it. Inspiration and enthusiasm fire my whole being. My mind constantly, with complete integrity, receives and produces vital ideas and executes them with complete right action.” – Edna Lister, August 4, 1956.

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New Testament Laws on Action

Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. – Matthew 5:42.


Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. – Matthew 5:44.


Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. – Matthew 6:1-7.


When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. – Matthew 6:16-18.


Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also – Matthew 6:19-21.


Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. – Matthew 7:6.


Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. – Matthew 7:7-8.


Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. – Matthew 7:12.


Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. – Matthew 7:21.


Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. – Matthew 18:21-22.


Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men. – Matthew 23:1-5.


Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. – Matthew 23:23.


Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me [Christ]. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me [Christ]. – Matthew 25:40, 45.


Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. – Mark 3:35.


And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. – Mark 6:5-6.


And [Jesus] took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. – Mark 9:36-42.


And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. – Mark 10:17-27.


And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. – Mark 12:41-44.


And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. – Mark 14:3-9.

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And God spake all these words, saying, I AM the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. – Exodus 20:1-17.


The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him are actions weighed. – 1 Samuel 2:3.

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884 – 1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


Etymology of action: Latin actus, a doing and actum, a thing done, both from agere, act-, to drive, to do.


Action is an abstract principle, rooted in the Logos Emanation.

Action is the most obvious law of doing.

Action is a Via Christa Degree.


References

The Oxford English Dictionary: Compact Ed. 2 vols. Oxford University Press, 1971.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV), Public Domain.

Webster, Noah. Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: S. Converse, 1828. Public Domain.

Definitions

We use many online sources, the most common of which we abbreviate as shown:

AHD. American Heritage Dictionary.

CDC. Century Dictionary.

EB. Encyclopædia Britannica.

LLP. Wikipedia.

MWD. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

OAD. The Oxford American Dictionary.

ODP. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.

OED. The Oxford English Dictionary.

TPP. The Philosophy Pages.

WAD. Webster’s American Dictionary.


Related Topics

See Action and Reaction

See Doing

See Energy

See Your Standard of Action: Edna Lister Bible study; March 22, 1935.