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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, In Tune with the Infinite, by Ralph Waldo
+Trine
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: In Tune with the Infinite
+ or, Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
+
+
+Author: Ralph Waldo Trine
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 20, 2007 [eBook #23559]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN TUNE WITH THE INFINITE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+IN TUNE WITH THE INFINITE
+
+or
+
+Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
+
+by
+
+RALPH WALDO TRINE
+
+Author of
+ "What All the World's A-Seeking,"
+ "The Greatest Thing Ever Known,"
+ "Every Living Creature."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ _Within yourself lies the cause of whatever enters
+ into your life. To come into the full realization
+ of your own awakened interior powers, is to be
+ able to condition your life in exact accord with
+ what you would have it._
+
+
+
+Seventy-Seventh Thousand
+in England and America
+
+London
+George Bell & Sons
+1903
+
+First English Edition, Dec. 1899
+Reprinted April and October 1900
+February and June 1901; April 1902; January 1903
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+There is a golden thread that runs through every religion in the world.
+There is a golden thread that runs through the lives and the teachings
+of all the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world's history,
+through the lives of all men and women of truly great and lasting
+power. All that they have ever done or attained to has been done in
+full accordance with law. What one has done, all may do.
+
+This same golden thread must enter into the lives of all who today, in
+this busy work-a-day world of ours, would exchange impotence for power,
+weakness and suffering for abounding health and strength, pain and
+unrest for perfect peace, poverty of whatever nature for fullness and
+plenty.
+
+Each is building his own world. We both build from within and we
+attract from without. Thought is the force with which we build, for
+thoughts are forces. Like builds like and like attracts like. In the
+degree that thought is spiritualized does it become more subtle and
+powerful in its workings. This spiritualizing is in accordance with
+law and is within the power of all.
+
+Everything is first worked out in the unseen before it is manifested in
+the seen, in the ideal before it is realized in the real, in the
+spiritual before it shows forth in the material. The realm of the
+unseen is the realm of cause. The realm of the seen is the realm of
+effect. The nature of effect is always determined and conditioned by
+the nature of its cause.
+
+To point out the great facts in connection with, and the great laws
+underlying the workings of the interior, spiritual, thought forces, to
+point them out so simply and so clearly that even a child can
+understand, is the author's aim. To point them out so simply and so
+clearly that all can grasp them, that all can take them and infuse them
+into every-day life, so as to mould it in all its details in accordance
+with what they would have it, is his purpose. That life can be thus
+moulded by them is not a matter of mere speculation or theory with him,
+but a matter of positive knowledge.
+
+There is a divine sequence running throughout the universe. Within and
+above and below the human will incessantly works the Divine will. To
+come into harmony with it and thereby with all the higher laws and
+forces, to come then into league and to work in conjunction with them,
+in order that they can work in league and in conjunction with us, is to
+come into the chain of this wonderful sequence. This is the secret of
+all success. This is to come into the possession of unknown riches,
+into the realization of undreamed-of powers.
+
+R.W.T.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ I. PRELUDE
+ II. THE SUPREME FACT OF THE UNIVERSE
+ III. THE SUPREME FACT OF HUMAN LIFE
+ IV. FULLNESS OF LIFE--BODILY HEALTH AND VIGOR
+ V. THE SECRET, POWER, AND EFFECTS OF LOVE
+ VI. WISDOM AND INTERIOR ILLUMINATION
+ VII. THE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE
+ VIII. COMING INTO FULLNESS OF POWER
+ IX. PLENTY OF ALL THINGS--THE LAW OF PROSPERITY
+ X. HOW MEN HAVE BECOME PROPHETS, SEERS, SAGES, AND SAVIOURS
+ XI. THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF ALL RELIGIONS--THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION
+ XII. ENTERING NOW INTO THE REALIZATION OF THE HIGHEST RICHES
+
+
+
+
+FULLNESS OF PEACE, POWER, AND PLENTY.
+
+
+PRELUDE.
+
+The optimist is right. The pessimist is right. The one differs from
+the other as the light from the dark. Yet both are right. Each is
+right from his own particular point of view, and this point of view is
+the determining factor in the life of each. It determines as to
+whether it is a life of power or of impotence, of peace or of pain, of
+success or of failure.
+
+The optimist has the power of seeing things in their entirety and in
+their right relations. The pessimist looks from a limited and a
+one-sided point of view. The one has his understanding illumined by
+wisdom, the understanding of the other is darkened by ignorance. Each
+is building his world from within, and the result of the building is
+determined by the point of view of each. The optimist, by his superior
+wisdom and insight, is making his own heaven, and in the degree that he
+makes his own heaven is he helping to make one for all the world
+beside. The pessimist, by virtue of his limitations, is making his own
+hell, and in the degree that he makes his own hell is he helping to
+make one for all mankind.
+
+You and I have the predominating characteristics of an optimist or the
+predominating characteristics of a pessimist. We then are making, hour
+by hour, our own heaven or our own hell; and in the degree that we are
+making the one or the other for ourselves are we helping make it for
+all the world beside.
+
+The word heaven means harmony. The word hell is from the old English
+_hell_, meaning to build a wall around, to separate; to be _helled_ was
+to be shut off from. Now if there is such a thing as harmony there
+must be that something one can be in right relations with; for to be in
+right relations with anything is to be in harmony with it. Again, if
+there is such a thing as being _helled_, shut off, separated from,
+there must be that something from which one is held, shut off, or
+separated.
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPREME FACT OF THE UNIVERSE.
+
+The great central fact of the universe is that Spirit of Infinite Life
+and Power that is behind all, that animates all, that manifests itself
+in and through all; that self-existent principle of life from which all
+has come, and not only from which all has come, but from which all is
+continually coming. If there is an individual life, there must of
+necessity be an infinite source of life from which it comes. If there
+is a quality or a force of love, there must of necessity be an infinite
+source of love whence it comes. If there is wisdom, there must be the
+all-wise source behind it from which it springs. The same is true in
+regard to peace, the same in regard to power, the same in regard to
+what we call material things.
+
+There is, then, this Spirit of Infinite Life and Power behind all which
+is the source of all. This Infinite Power is creating, working, ruling
+through the agency of great immutable laws and forces that run through
+all the universe, that surround us on every side. Every act of our
+every-day lives is governed by these same great laws and forces. Every
+flower that blooms by the wayside, springs up, grows, blooms, fades,
+according to certain great immutable laws. Every snowflake that plays
+between earth and heaven, forms, falls, melts, according to certain
+great unchangeable laws.
+
+In a sense there is nothing in all the great universe but law. If this
+is true there must of necessity be a force behind it all that is the
+maker of these laws and a force greater than the laws that are made.
+This Spirit of Infinite Life and Power that is behind all is what I
+call God. I care not what term you may use, be it Kindly Light,
+Providence, the Over Soul, Omnipotence, or whatever term may be most
+convenient. I care not what the term may be as long as we are agreed
+in regard to the great central fact itself.
+
+God, then, is this Infinite Spirit which fills all the universe with
+Himself alone, so that all is from Him and in Him, and there is nothing
+that is outside. Indeed and in truth, then, in Him we live and move
+and have our being. He is the life of our life, our very life itself.
+We have received, we are continually receiving our life from Him. We
+are partakers of the life of God; and though we differ from Him in that
+we are individualized spirits, while He is the Infinite Spirit
+including us as well as all else beside, _yet in essence the life of
+God and the life of man are identically the same, and so are one_.
+They differ not in essence, in quality; they differ in degree.
+
+There have been and are highly illumined souls who believe that we
+receive our life from God after the manner of a divine inflow. And
+again, there have been and are those who believe that our life is one
+with the life of God, and so that God and man are one. Which is right?
+Both are right; both right when rightly understood.
+
+In regard to the first: if God is the Infinite Spirit of Life behind
+all, whence all comes, then clearly our life as individualized spirits
+is continually coming from this Infinite Source by means of this divine
+inflow. In the second place, if our lives as individualized spirits
+are directly from, are parts of this Infinite Spirit of Life, then the
+degree of the Infinite Spirit that is manifested in the life of each
+must be identical in quality with that Source, the same as a drop of
+water taken from the ocean is, in nature, in characteristics, identical
+with that ocean, its source. And how could it be otherwise? The
+liability to misunderstanding in this latter case, however, is this: in
+that although the life of God and the life of man in essence are
+identically the same, the life of God so far transcends the life of
+individual man that it includes all else beside. In other words, so
+far as the quality of life is concerned, in essence they are the same;
+so far as the degree of life is concerned, they are vastly different.
+
+In this light is it not then evident that both conceptions are true?
+and more, that they are one and the same? Both conceptions may be
+typified by one and the same illustration.
+
+There is a reservoir in a valley which receives its supply from an
+inexhaustible reservoir on the mountain side. It is then true that the
+reservoir in the valley receives its supply by virtue of the inflow of
+the water from the larger reservoir on the mountain side. It is also
+true that the water in this smaller reservoir is in nature, in quality,
+in characteristics identically the same as that in the larger reservoir
+which is its source. The difference, however, is this: the reservoir
+on the mountain side, in the _amount_ of its water, so far transcends
+the reservoir in the valley that it can supply an innumerable number of
+like reservoirs and still be unexhausted.
+
+And so in the life of man. If, as I think we have already agreed,
+however we may differ in regard to anything else, there is this
+Infinite Spirit of Life behind all, the life of all, and so, from which
+all comes, then the life of individual man, your life and mine, must
+come by a divine inflow from this Infinite Source. And if this is
+true, then the life that comes by this inflow to man is necessarily the
+same in essence as is this Infinite Spirit of Life. There is a
+difference. It is not a difference in essence. It is a difference in
+degree.
+
+If this is true, does it not then follow that in the degree that man
+opens himself to this divine inflow does he approach to God? If so, it
+then necessarily follows that in the degree that he makes this approach
+does he take on the God-powers. And if the God-powers are without
+limit, does it not then follow that the only limitations man has are
+the limitations he sets to himself, by virtue of not knowing himself?
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPREME FACT OF HUMAN LIFE.
+
+From the great central fact of the universe in regard to which we have
+agreed, namely, this Spirit of Infinite Life that is behind all and
+from which all comes, we are led to inquire as to what is the great
+central fact in human life. From what has gone before, the question
+almost answers itself.
+
+_The great central fact in human life, in your life and in mine, is the
+coming into a conscious, vital realization of our oneness with this
+Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine
+inflow_. This is the great central fact in human life, for in this all
+else is included, all else follows in its train. In just the degree
+that we come into a conscious realization of our oneness with the
+Infinite Life, and open ourselves to this divine inflow, do we
+actualize in ourselves the qualities and powers of the Infinite Life.
+
+And what does this mean? It means simply this: that we are recognizing
+our true identity, that we are bringing our lives into harmony with the
+same great laws and forces, and so opening ourselves to the same great
+inspirations, as have all the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in
+the world's history, all men of truly great and mighty power. For in
+the degree that we come into this realization and connect ourselves
+with this Infinite Source, do we make it possible for the higher powers
+to play, to work, to manifest through us.
+
+We can keep closed to this divine inflow, to these higher forces and
+powers, through ignorance, as most of us do, and thus hinder or even
+prevent their manifesting through us. Or we can intentionally close
+ourselves to their operations and thus deprive ourselves of the powers
+to which, by the very nature of our being, we are rightful heirs. On
+the other hand, we can come into so vital a realization of the oneness
+of our real selves with this Infinite Life, and can open ourselves so
+fully to the incoming of this divine inflow, and so to the operation of
+these higher forces, inspirations, and powers, that we can indeed and
+in truth become what we may well term, God-men.
+
+And what is a God-man? One in whom the powers of God are manifesting,
+though yet a man. No one can set limitations to a man or a woman of
+this type; for the only limitations he or she can have are those set by
+the self. Ignorance is the most potent factor in setting limitations
+to the majority of mankind; and so the great majority of people
+continue to live their little, dwarfed, and stunted lives simply by
+virtue of the fact that they do not realize the larger life to which
+they are heirs. They have never as yet come into a knowledge of the
+real identity of their true selves.
+
+Mankind has not yet realized that the real self is one with the life of
+God. Through its ignorance it has never yet opened itself to the
+divine inflow, and so has never made itself a channel through which the
+infinite powers and forces can manifest. When we know ourselves merely
+as men, we live accordingly, and have merely the powers of men. When
+we come into the realization of the fact that we are God-men, then
+again we live accordingly, and have the powers of God-men. _In the
+degree that we open ourselves to this divine inflow are we changed from
+mere men into God-men_.
+
+
+A friend has a beautiful lotus pond. A natural basin on his
+estate--his farm as he always calls it--is supplied with water from a
+reservoir in the foothills some distance away. A gate regulates the
+flow of the water from the main that conducts it from the reservoir to
+the pond. It is a spot of transcendent beauty. There, through the
+days of the perfect summer weather, the lotus flowers lie full blown
+upon the surface of the clear, transparent water. The June roses and
+other wild flowers are continually blooming upon its banks. The birds
+come here to drink and to bathe, and from early until late one can hear
+the melody of their song. The bees are continually at work in this
+garden of wild flowers. A beautiful grove, in which many kinds of wild
+berries and many varieties of brakes and ferns grow, stretches back of
+the pond as far as the eye can reach.
+
+Our friend is a man, nay more, a God-man, a lover of his kind, and as a
+consequence no notice bearing such words as "Private grounds, no
+trespassing allowed," or "Trespassers will be prosecuted," stands on
+his estate. But at the end of a beautiful by-way that leads through
+the wildwood up to this enchanting spot, stands a notice bearing the
+words "All are welcome to the Lotus Pond." All love our friend. Why?
+They can't help it. He so loves them, and what is his is theirs.
+
+Here one may often find merry groups of children at play. Here many
+times tired and weary looking men and women come, and somehow, when
+they go their faces wear a different expression,--the burden seems to
+be lifted; and now and then I have heard them when leaving, sometimes
+in a faint murmur, as if uttering a benediction, say, "God bless our
+brother-friend." Many speak of this spot as the Garden of God. My
+friend calls it his Soul Garden, and he spends many hours in quiet
+here. Often have I seen him after the others have gone, walking to and
+fro, or sitting quietly in the clear moonlight on an old rustic bench,
+drinking in the perfume of the wild flowers. He is a man of a
+beautifully simple nature. He says that here the real things of life
+come to him, and that here his greatest and most successful plans, many
+times as by a flash of inspiration, suggest themselves to him.
+
+Everything in the immediate vicinity seems to breathe a spirit of
+kindliness, comfort, good-will, and good cheer. The very cattle and
+sheep as they come to the old stone-fence at the edge of the grove and
+look across to this beautiful spot seem, indeed, to get the same
+enjoyment that the people are getting. They seem almost to smile in
+the realization of their contentment and enjoyment; or perhaps it seems
+so to the looker-on, because he can scarcely help smiling as he sees
+the manifested evidence of their contentment and pleasure.
+
+The gate of the pond is always open wide enough to admit a supply of
+water so abundant that it continually overflows a quantity sufficient
+to feed a stream that runs through the fields below, giving the pure
+mountain water in drink to the cattle and flocks that are grazing
+there. The stream then flows on through the neighbors' fields.
+
+Not long ago our friend was absent for a year. He rented his estate
+during his absence to a man who, as the world goes, was of a very
+"practical" turn of mind. He had no time for anything that did not
+bring him direct "practical" returns. The gate connecting the
+reservoir with the lotus pond was shut down, and no longer had the
+crystal mountain water the opportunity to feed and overflow it. The
+notice of our friend, "All are welcome to the Lotus Pond," was removed,
+and no longer were the gay companies of children and of men and women
+seen at the pond. A great change came over everything. On account of
+the lack of the life-giving water the flowers in the pond wilted, and
+their long stems lay stretched upon the mud in the bottom. The fish
+that formerly swam in its clear water soon died and gave an offensive
+odor to all who came near. The flowers no longer bloomed on its banks.
+The birds no longer came to drink and to bathe. No longer was heard
+the hum of the bees; and more, the stream that ran through the fields
+below dried up, so that the cattle and the flocks no longer got their
+supply of clear mountain water.
+
+The difference between the spot now and the lotus pond when our friend
+gave it his careful attention was caused, as we readily see, by the
+shutting of the gate to the pond, thus preventing the water from the
+reservoir in the hills which was the source of its life, from entering
+it. And when this, the source of its life, was shut off, not only was
+the appearance of the lotus pond entirely changed, but the surrounding
+fields were deprived of the stream to whose banks the flocks and cattle
+came for drink.
+
+In this do we not see a complete parallel so far as human life is
+concerned? In the degree that we recognize our oneness, our connection
+with the Infinite Spirit which is the life of all, and in the degree
+that we open ourselves to this divine inflow, do we come into harmony
+with the highest, the most powerful, and the most beautiful everywhere.
+And in the degree that we do this do we overflow, so that all who come
+in contact with us receive the effects of this realization on our part.
+This is the lotus pond of our friend, he who is in love with all that
+is truest and best in the universe. And in the degree that we fail to
+recognize our oneness with this Infinite Source, and so close, shut
+ourselves to this divine inflow, do we come into that state where there
+seems to be with us nothing of good, nothing of beauty, nothing of
+power; and when this is true, those who come in contact with us receive
+not good, but harm. This is the spot of the lotus pond while the farm
+was in the hands of a renter.
+
+There is this difference between the lotus pond and your life and mine.
+It has no power in itself of opening the gate to the inflow of the
+water from the reservoir which is its source. In regard to this it is
+helpless and dependent upon an outside agency. You and I have the
+power, the power within us, to open or to close ourselves to this
+divine inflow exactly as we choose. This we have through the power of
+mind, through the operation of thought.
+
+There is the soul life, direct from God. This it is that relates us to
+the Infinite. There is, then, the physical life. This it is that
+relates us to the material universe about us. The thought life
+connects the one with the other. It is this that plays between the two.
+
+Before we proceed farther let us consider very briefly the nature of
+thought. Thought is not, as is many times supposed, a mere indefinite
+abstraction, or something of a like nature. It is, on the contrary, a
+vital, living force, the most vital, subtle, and irresistible force
+there is in the universe.
+
+In our very laboratory experiments we are demonstrating the great fact
+that thoughts are forces. They have form, and quality, and substance,
+and power, and we are beginning to find that there is what we may term
+a _science of thought_. We are beginning also to find that through the
+instrumentality of our thought forces we have creative power, not
+merely in a figurative sense, but creative power in reality.
+
+Everything in the material universe about us, everything the universe
+has ever known, had its origin first in thought. From this it took its
+form. Every castle, every statue, every painting, every piece of
+mechanism, everything had its birth, its origin, first in the mind of
+the one who formed it before it received its material expression or
+embodiment. The very universe in which we live is the result of the
+thought energies of God, the Infinite Spirit that is back of all. And
+if it is true, as we have found, that we in our true selves are in
+essence the same, and in this sense are one with the life of this
+Infinite Spirit, do we not then see that in the degree that we come
+into a vital realization of this stupendous fact, _we, through the
+operation of our interior, spiritual, thought forces, have in like
+sense creative power_?
+
+Everything exists in the unseen before it is manifested or realized in
+the seen, and in this sense it is true that the unseen things are the
+real, while the things that are seen are the unreal. The unseen things
+are _cause_; the seen things are _effect_. The unseen things are the
+eternal; the seen things are the changing, the transient.
+
+The "_power of the word_" is a literal scientific fact. Through the
+operation of our thought forces we have creative power. The spoken
+word is nothing more nor less than the outward expression of the
+workings of these interior forces. The spoken word is then, in a
+sense, the means whereby the thought forces are focused and directed
+along any particular line; and this concentration, this giving them
+direction, is necessary before any outward or material manifestation of
+their power can become evident.
+
+Much is said in regard to "building castles in the air," and one who is
+given to this building is not always looked upon with favor. But
+castles in the air are always necessary before we can have castles on
+the ground, before we can have castles in which to live. The trouble
+with the one who gives himself to building castles in the air is not
+that he builds them in the air, but that he does not go farther and
+actualize in life, in character, in material form, the castles he thus
+builds. He does a part of the work, a very necessary part; but another
+equally necessary part remains still undone.
+
+There is in connection with the thought forces what we may term, the
+drawing power of mind, and the great law operating here is one with
+that great law of the universe, that like attracts like. We are
+continually attracting to us from both the seen and the unseen side of
+life, forces and conditions most akin to those of our own thoughts.
+
+This law is continually operating whether we are conscious of it or
+not. We are all living, so to speak, in a vast ocean of thought, and
+the very atmosphere around us is continually filled with the thought
+forces that are being continually sent or that are continually going
+out in the form of thought waves. We are all affected, more or less,
+by these thought forces, either consciously or unconsciously; and in
+the degree that we are more or less sensitively organized, or in the
+degree that we are negative and so are open to outside influences,
+rather than positive, thus determining what influences shall enter into
+our realm of thought, and hence into our lives.
+
+There are those among us who are much more sensitively organized than
+others. As an organism their bodies are more finely, more sensitively
+constructed. These, generally speaking, are people who are always more
+or less affected by the mentalities of those with whom they come in
+contact, or in whose company they are. A friend, the editor of one of
+our great journals, is so sensitively organized that it is impossible
+for him to attend a gathering, such as a reception, talk and shake
+hands with a number of people during the course of the evening, without
+taking on to a greater or less extent their various mental and physical
+conditions. These affect him to such an extent that he is scarcely
+himself and in his best condition for work until some two or three days
+afterward.
+
+Some think it unfortunate for one to be sensitively organized. By no
+means. It is a good thing, for one may thus be more open and receptive
+to the higher impulses of the soul within, and to all higher forces and
+influences from without. It may, however, be unfortunate and extremely
+inconvenient to be so organized unless one recognize and gain the power
+of closing himself, of making himself positive to all detrimental or
+undesirable influences. This power every one, however sensitively
+organized he may be, can acquire.
+
+This he can acquire through the mind's action. And, moreover, there is
+no habit of more value to anyone, be he sensitively or less sensitively
+organized, than that of occasionally taking and holding himself
+continually in the attitude of mind--I close myself, I make myself
+positive to all things below, and open and receptive to all higher
+influences, to all things above. By taking this attitude of mind
+consciously now and then, it soon becomes a habit, and if one is deeply
+in earnest in regard to it, it puts into operation silent but subtle
+and powerful influences in effecting the desired results. In this way
+all lower and undesirable influences from both the seen and the unseen
+side of life are closed out, while all higher influences are invited,
+and in the degree that they are invited will they enter.
+
+And what do we mean by the unseen side of life? First, the thought
+forces, the mental and emotional conditions in the atmosphere about us
+that are generated by those manifesting on the physical plane through
+the agency of physical bodies. Second, the same forces generated by
+those who have dropped the physical body, or from whom it has been
+struck away, and who are now manifesting through the agency of bodies
+of a different nature.
+
+"The individual existence of man _begins_ on the sense plane of the
+physical world, but rises through successive gradations of ethereal and
+celestial spheres, corresponding with his ever unfolding deific life
+and powers, to a destiny of unspeakable grandeur and glory. Within and
+above every physical planet is a corresponding ethereal planet, or soul
+world, as within and above every physical organism is a corresponding
+ethereal organism, or soul body, of which the physical is but the
+external counterpart and materialized expression. From this
+etherealized or soul planet, which is the immediate home of our arisen
+humanity, there rises or deepens in infinite gradations spheres within
+and above spheres, to celestial heights of spiritualized existence
+utterly inconceivable to the sense man. Embodiment, accordingly, is
+two-fold,--the physical being but the temporary husk, so to speak, in
+and by which the real and permanent ethereal organism is individualized
+and perfected, somewhat as 'the full corn in the ear' is reached by
+means of its husk, for which there is no further use. By means of this
+indestructible ethereal body and the corresponding ethereal spheres of
+environment with the social life and relations in the spheres, the
+individuality and personal life is preserved forever."
+
+The fact of life in whatever form means the continuance of life, even
+though the form be changed. Life is the one eternal principle of the
+universe and so always continues, even though the form of the agency
+through which it manifests be changed. "In my Father's house are many
+mansions." And surely, because the individual has dropped, has gone
+out of the physical body, there is no evidence at all that the life
+does not go right on the same as before, not commencing,--for there is
+no cessation,--but commencing in the other form, exactly where it has
+left off here; for all life is a continuous evolution, step by step;
+there one neither skips nor jumps.
+
+There are in the other form, then, mentalities and hence lives of all
+grades and influences, the same as there are in the physical form. If,
+then, the great law that like attracts like is ever operating, we are
+continually attracting to us from this side of life influences and
+conditions most akin to those of our own thoughts and lives. A
+grewsome thought that we should be so influenced, says one. By no
+means, all life is one; we are all bound together in the one common and
+universal life, and especially not when we take into consideration the
+fact that we have it entirely in our own hands to determine the order
+of thought we entertain, and consequently the order of influences we
+attract, and are not mere willowy creatures of circumstance, unless
+indeed we choose to be.
+
+In our mental lives we can either keep hold of the rudder and so
+determine exactly what course we take, what points we touch, or we can
+fail to do this, and failing, we drift, and are blown hither and
+thither by every passing breeze. And so, on the contrary, welcome
+should be the thought, for thus we may draw to us the influence and the
+aid of the greatest, the noblest, and the best who have lived on the
+earth, whatever the time, wherever the place.
+
+We cannot rationally believe other than that those who have labored in
+love and with uplifting power here are still laboring in the same way,
+and in all probability with more earnest zeal, and with still greater
+power.
+
+"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he
+may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw:
+and, behold, the mountain _was full of horses and chariots of fire_
+round about Elisha."
+
+While riding with a friend a few days ago, we were speaking of the
+great interest people are everywhere taking in the more vital things of
+life, the eagerness with which they are reaching out for a knowledge of
+the interior forces, their ever increasing desire to know themselves
+and to know their true relations with the Infinite. And in speaking of
+the great spiritual awakening that is so rapidly coming all over the
+world, the beginnings of which we are so clearly seeing during the
+closing years of this, and whose ever increasing proportions we are to
+witness during the early years of the coming century, I said, "How
+beautiful if Emerson, the illumined one so far in advance of his time,
+who labored so faithfully and so fearlessly to bring about these very
+conditions, how beautiful if he were with us today to witness it all!
+how he would rejoice!" "How do we know," was the reply, "that he is
+not witnessing it all? and more, that he is not having a hand in it
+all,--a hand even greater, perhaps, than when we _saw_ him here?"
+Thank you, my friend, for this reminder. And, truly, "are they not all
+ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs
+of salvation?"
+
+As science is so abundantly demonstrating today,--the things that we
+see are but a very small fraction of the things that are. The real,
+vital forces at work in our own lives and in the world about us are not
+seen by the ordinary physical eye. Yet they are the causes of which
+all things we see are merely the effects. Thoughts are forces; like
+builds like, and like attracts like. For one to govern his thinking,
+then, is to determine his life.
+
+Says one of deep insight into the nature of things: "The law of
+correspondences between spiritual and material things is wonderfully
+exact in its workings. People ruled by the mood of gloom attract to
+them gloomy things. People always discouraged and despondent do not
+succeed in anything, and live only by burdening some one else. The
+hopeful, confident, and cheerful attract the elements of success. A
+man's front or back yard will advertise that man's ruling mood in the
+way it is kept. A woman at home shows her state of mind in her dress.
+A slattern advertises the ruling mood of hopelessness, carelessness,
+and lack of system. Rags, tatters, and dirt are always in the mind
+before being on the body. The thought that is most put out brings its
+corresponding visible element to crystallize about you as surely and
+literally as the visible bit of copper in solution attracts to it the
+invisible copper in that solution. A mind always hopeful, confident,
+courageous, and determined on its set purpose, and keeping itself to
+that purpose, attracts to itself out of the elements things and powers
+favorable to that purpose.
+
+"Every thought of yours has a literal value to you in every possible
+way. The strength of your body, the strength of your mind, your
+success in business, and the pleasure your company brings others,
+depends on the nature of your thoughts. . . . In whatever mood you set
+your mind does your spirit receive of unseen substance in
+correspondence with that mood. It is as much a chemical law as a
+spiritual law. Chemistry is not confined to the elements we see. The
+elements we do not see with the physical eye outnumber ten thousand
+times those we do see. The Christ injunction, 'Do good to those who
+hate you,' is based on a scientific fact and a natural law. So, to do
+good is to bring to yourself all the elements in nature of power and
+good. To do evil is to bring the contrary destructive elements. When
+our eyes are opened, self-preservation will make us stop all evil
+thought. Those who live by hate will die by hate: that is, 'those who
+live by the sword will die by the sword.' Every evil thought is as a
+sword drawn on the person to whom it is directed. If a sword is drawn
+in return, so much the worse for both."
+
+And says another who knows full well whereof he speaks: "The law of
+attraction works universally on every plane of _action_, and we attract
+whatever we desire or expect. If we desire one thing and expect
+another, we become like houses divided against themselves, which are
+quickly brought to desolation. Determine resolutely to expect only
+what you desire, then you will attract only what you wish for. . . .
+Carry any kind of thought you please about with you, and so long as you
+retain it, no matter how you roam over land or sea, you will
+unceasingly attract to yourself, knowingly or inadvertently, exactly
+and only what corresponds to your own dominant quality of thought.
+Thoughts are our private property, and we can regulate them to suit our
+taste entirely by steadily recognizing our ability so to do."
+
+We have just spoken of the drawing power of mind. Faith is nothing
+more nor less than the operation of the _thought forces_ in the form of
+an earnest desire, coupled with expectation as to its fulfillment. And
+in the degree that faith, the earnest desire thus sent out, is
+continually held to and watered by firm expectation, in just that
+degree does it either draw to itself, or does it change from the unseen
+into the visible, from the spiritual into the material, that for which
+it is sent.
+
+Let the element of doubt or fear enter in, and what would otherwise be
+a tremendous force will be so neutralized that it will fail of its
+realization. Continually held to and continually watered by firm
+expectation, it becomes a force, a drawing power, that is irresistible
+and absolute, and the results will be absolute in direct proportion as
+it is absolute.
+
+We shall find, as we are so rapidly beginning to find today, that the
+great things said in regard to faith, the great promises made in
+connection with it, are not mere vague sentimentalities, but are all
+great scientific facts, and rest upon great immutable laws. Even in
+our very laboratory experiments we are beginning to discover the laws
+underlying and governing these forces. We, are now beginning, some at
+least, to use them understandingly and not blindly, as has so often and
+so long been the case.
+
+Much is said today in regard to the will. It is many times spoken of
+as if it were a force in itself. But will is a force, a power, only in
+so far as it is a particular form of the manifestation of the thought
+forces; for it is by what we call the "will" that thought is focused
+and given a particular direction, and in the degree that thought is
+thus focused and given direction, is it effective in the work it is
+sent out to accomplish.
+
+In a sense there are two kinds of will,--the human and the divine. The
+human will is the will of what, for convenience' sake, we may term the
+lower self. It is the will that finds its life merely in the realm of
+the mental and the physical,--the sense will. It is the will of the
+one who is not yet awake to the fact that there is a life that far
+transcends the life of merely the intellect and the physical senses,
+and which when realized and lived, does not do away with or minify
+these, but which, on the contrary, brings them to their highest
+perfection and to their powers of keenest enjoyment. The divine will
+is the will of the higher self, the will of the one who recognizes his
+oneness with the Divine, and who consequently brings his will to work
+in harmony, in conjunction with the divine will. "The Lord thy God _in
+the midst of thee_ is mighty."
+
+The human will has its limitations. So far and no farther, says the
+law. The divine will has no limitations. It is supreme. All things
+are open and subject to you, says the law, and so, in the degree that
+the human will is transmuted into the divine, in the degree that it
+comes into harmony with and so, acts in conjunction with the divine,
+does it become supreme. Then it is that "Thou shalt decree a thing and
+it shall be established unto thee." The great secret of life and of
+power, then, is to make and to keep one's conscious connection with
+this Infinite Source.
+
+The power of every life, the very life itself, is determined by what it
+relates itself to. God is immanent as well as transcendent. He is
+creating, working, ruling in the universe today, in your life and in
+mine, just as much as He ever has been. We are too apt to regard Him
+after the manner of an absentee landlord, one who has set into
+operation the forces of this great universe, and then taken Himself
+away.
+
+In the degree, however, that we recognize Him as immanent as well as
+transcendent, are we able to partake of His life and power. For in the
+degree that we recognize Him as the Infinite Spirit of Life and Power
+that is today, at this very moment, working and manifesting in and
+through all, and then, in the degree that we come into the realization
+of our oneness with this life, do we become partakers of, and so do we
+actualize in ourselves the qualities of His life. _In the degree that
+we open ourselves to the inflowing tide of this immanent and
+transcendent life, do we make ourselves channels through which the
+Infinite Intelligence and Power can work_.
+
+It is through the instrumentality of the mind that we are enabled to
+connect the real soul life with the physical life, and so enable the
+soul life to manifest and work through the physical. The thought life
+needs _continually_ to be illumined from within. This illumination can
+come in just the degree that through the agency of the mind we
+recognize our oneness with the Divine, of which each soul is an
+individual form of expression.
+
+This gives us the inner guiding which we call intuition. "Intuition is
+to the spiritual nature and understanding practically what sense
+perception is to the sensuous nature and understanding. It is an inner
+spiritual sense through which man is opened to the direct revelation
+and knowledge of God, the secrets of nature and life, and through which
+he is brought into conscious unity and fellowship with God, and made to
+realize his own deific nature and supremacy of being as the son of God.
+Spiritual supremacy and illumination thus realized through the
+development and perfection of intuition under divine inspiration, gives
+the perfect inner vision and direct insight into the character,
+properties, and purpose of all things to which the attention and
+interest are directed. . . . It is, we repeat, a spiritual sense
+opening inwardly, as the physical senses open outwardly; and because it
+has the capacity to perceive, grasp, and know the truth at first hand,
+independent of all external sources of information, we call it
+intuition. All inspired teaching and spiritual revelations are based
+upon the recognition of this spiritual faculty of the soul, and its
+power to receive and appropriate them. . . . Conscious unity of man in
+spirit and purpose with the Father, born out of his supreme desire and
+trust, opens his soul through this inner sense to immediate inspiration
+and enlightenment from the Divine Omniscience, and the co-operative
+energy of the Divine Omnipotence, under which he becomes a seer and a
+master.
+
+"On this higher plane of realized spiritual life in the flesh the mind
+holds the impersonal attitude and acts with unfettered freedom and
+unbiased vision, grasping truth at first hand, independent of all
+external sources of information. Approaching all beings and things
+from the divine side, they are seen in the light of the Divine
+Omniscience. God's purpose in them, and so the truth concerning them,
+as it rests in the mind of God, are thus revealed by direct
+illumination from the Divine Mind, to which the soul is opened inwardly
+through this spiritual sense we call intuition." Some call it the
+voice of the soul; some call it the voice of God; some call it the
+sixth sense. It is our inner spiritual sense.
+
+In the degree that we come into the recognition of our own _true_
+selves, into the realization of the oneness of our life with the
+Infinite Life, and in the degree that we open ourselves to this divine
+inflow, does this voice of intuition, this voice of the soul, this
+voice of God, speak clearly; and in the degree that we recognize,
+listen to, and obey it, does it speak ever more clearly, until
+by-and-by there comes the time when it is unerring, _absolutely
+unerring_, in its guidance.
+
+
+
+
+FULLNESS OF LIFE--BODILY HEALTH AND VIGOR.
+
+God is the Spirit of Infinite Life. If we are partakers of this life,
+and have the power of opening ourselves fully to its divine inflow, it
+means more, so far as even the physical life is concerned, than we may
+at first think. For very clearly, the life of this Infinite Spirit,
+from its very nature, can admit of no disease; and if this is true, no
+disease can exist in the body where it freely enters, through which it
+freely flows.
+
+Let us recognize at the outset that, so far as the physical life is
+concerned, _all life is from within out_. There is an immutable law
+which says: "As within, so without; cause, effect." In other words,
+the thought forces, the various mental states and the emotions, all
+have in time their effects upon the physical body.
+
+Some one says: "I hear a great deal said today in regard to the effects
+of the mind upon the body, but I don't know as I place very much
+confidence in this." Don't you? Some one brings you sudden news. You
+grow pale, you tremble, or perhaps you fall into a faint. It is,
+however, through the channel of your mind that the news is imparted to
+you. A friend says something to you, perhaps at the table, something
+that seems very unkind. You are hurt by it, as we say. You have been
+enjoying your dinner, but from this moment your appetite is gone. But
+what was said entered into and affected you through the channel of your
+mind.
+
+Look! yonder goes a young man, dragging his feet, stumbling over the
+slightest obstruction in the path. Why is it? Simply that he is
+weak-minded, an idiot. In other words, _a falling state of mind is
+productive of a falling condition of the body_. To be sure minded is
+to be sure footed. To be uncertain in mind is to be uncertain in step.
+
+Again, a sudden emergency arises. You stand trembling and weak with
+fear. Why are you powerless to move? Why do you tremble? And yet you
+believe that the mind has but little influence upon the body. You are
+for a moment dominated by a fit of anger. For a few hours afterwards
+you complain of a violent headache. And still you do not seem to
+realize that the thoughts and emotions have an effect upon the body.
+
+A day or two ago, while conversing with a friend, we were speaking of
+worry. "My father is greatly given to worry," he said. "Your father
+is not a healthy man," I said. "He is not strong, vigorous, robust,
+and active." I then went on to describe to him more fully his father's
+condition and the troubles which afflicted him. He looked at me in
+surprise and said, "Why, you do not know my father?" "No," I replied.
+"How then can you describe so accurately the disease with which he is
+afflicted?" "You have just told me that your father is greatly given
+to worry. When you told me this you indicated to me cause. In
+describing your father's condition I simply connected with the cause
+its own peculiar effects."
+
+Fear and worry have the effect of closing up the channels of the body,
+so that the life forces flow in a slow and sluggish manner. Hope and
+tranquillity open the channels of the body, so that the life forces go
+bounding through it in such a way that disease can rarely get a
+foothold.
+
+Not long ago a lady was telling a friend of a serious physical trouble.
+My friend happened to know that between this lady and her sister the
+most kindly relations did not exist. He listened attentively to her
+delineation of her troubles, and then, looking her squarely in the
+face, in a firm but kindly tone said: "Forgive your sister." The woman
+looked at him in surprise and said: "I can't forgive my sister." "Very
+well, then," he replied, "keep the stiffness of your joints and your
+kindred rheumatic troubles."
+
+A few weeks later he saw her again. With a light step she came toward
+him and said: "I took your advice. I saw my sister and forgave her.
+We have become good friends again, and I don't know how it is, but
+somehow or other from the very day, as I remember, that we became
+reconciled, my troubles seemed to grow less, and today there is not a
+trace of the old difficulties left; and really, my sister and I have
+become such good friends that now we can scarcely get along without one
+another." Again we have effect following cause.
+
+We have several well-authenticated cases of the following nature: A
+mother has been dominated for a few moments by an intense passion of
+anger, and the child at her breast has died within an hour's time, so
+poisoned became the mother's milk by virtue of the poisonous secretions
+of the system while under the domination of this fit of anger. In
+other cases it has caused severe illness and convulsions.
+
+The following experiment has been tried a number of times by a
+well-known scientist: Several men have been put into a heated room.
+Each man has been dominated for a moment by a particular passion of
+some kind; one by an intense passion of anger, and others by different
+other passions. The experimenter has taken a drop of perspiration from
+the body of each of these men, and by means of a careful chemical
+analysis he has been able to determine the particular passion by which
+each has been dominated. Practically the same results revealed
+themselves in the chemical analysis of the saliva of each of the men.
+
+Says a noted American author, an able graduate of one of our greatest
+medical schools, and one who has studied deeply into the forces that
+build the body and the forces that tear it down: "The mind is the
+natural protector of the body. . . . Every thought tends to reproduce
+itself, and ghastly mental pictures of disease, sensuality, and vice of
+all sorts, produce scrofula and leprosy in the soul, which reproduces
+them in the body. Anger changes the chemical properties of the saliva
+to a poison dangerous to life. It is well known that sudden and
+violent emotions have not only weakened the heart in a few hours, but
+have caused death and insanity. It has been discovered by scientists
+that there is a chemical difference between that sudden cold exudation
+of a person under a deep sense of guilt and the ordinary perspiration;
+and the state of the mind can sometimes be determined by chemical
+analysis of the perspiration of a criminal, which, when brought into
+contact with selenic acid, produces a distinctive pink color. It is
+well known that fear has killed thousands of victims; while, on the
+other hand, _courage is a great invigorator_.
+
+"Anger in the mother may poison a nursing child. Rarey, the celebrated
+horse-tamer, said that an angry word would sometimes raise the pulse of
+a horse ten beats in a minute. If this is true of a beast, what can we
+say of its power upon human beings, especially upon a child? Strong
+mental emotion often causes vomiting. Extreme anger or fright may
+produce jaundice. A violent paroxysm of rage has caused apoplexy and
+death. Indeed, in more than one instance, a single night of mental
+agony has wrecked a life. Grief, long-standing jealousy, constant care
+and corroding anxiety sometimes tend to develop insanity. Sick
+thoughts and discordant moods are the natural atmosphere of disease,
+and crime is engendered and thrives in the miasma of the mind."
+
+From all this we get the great fact we are scientifically demonstrating
+today,--that the various mental states, emotions, and passions have
+their various peculiar effects upon the body, and each induces in turn,
+if indulged in to any great extent, its own peculiar forms of disease,
+and these in time become chronic.
+
+Just a word or two in regard to their mode of operation. If a person
+is dominated for a moment by, say a passion of anger, there is set up
+in the physical organism what we might justly term a bodily
+thunder-storm, which has the effect of souring, or rather of corroding,
+the normal, healthy, and life-giving secretions of the body, so that
+instead of performing their natural functions they become poisonous and
+destructive. And if this goes on to any great extent, by virtue of
+their cumulative influences, they give rise to a particular form of
+disease, which in turn becomes chronic. So the emotion opposite to
+this, that of kindliness, love, benevolence, good-will, tends to
+stimulate a healthy, purifying, and life-giving flow of all the bodily
+secretions. All the channels of the body seem free and open; the life
+forces go bounding through them. And these very forces, set into a
+bounding activity, will in time counteract the poisonous and
+disease-giving effects of their opposites.
+
+A physician goes to see a patient. He gives no medicine this morning.
+Yet the very fact of his going makes the patient better. He has
+carried with him the spirit of health; he has carried brightness of
+tone and disposition; he has carried hope into the sick chamber; he has
+left it there. In fact, the very hope and good cheer he has carried
+with him has taken hold of and has had a subtle but powerful influence
+upon the mind of the patient; and this mental condition imparted by the
+physician has in turn its effects upon the patient's body, and so
+through the instrumentality of this mental suggestion the healing goes
+on.
+
+ "Know, then, whatever cheerful and serene
+ Supports the mind, supports the body, too.
+ Hence the most vital movement mortals feel
+ Is _hope_; the balm and life-blood of the soul."
+
+
+We sometimes hear a person in weak health say to another, "I always
+feel better when you come." There is a deep scientific reason
+underlying the statement. "The tongue of the wise is health." The
+power of suggestion so far as the human mind is concerned is a most
+wonderful and interesting field of study. Most wonderful and powerful
+forces can be set into operation through this agency. One of the
+world's most noted scientists, recognized everywhere as one of the most
+eminent anatomists living, tells us that he has proven from laboratory
+experiments that the entire human structure can be completely changed,
+made over, within a period of less than one year, and that some
+portions can be entirely remade within a period of a very few weeks.
+
+"Do you mean to say," I hear it asked, "that the body can be changed
+from a diseased to a healthy condition through the operation of the
+interior forces?" Most certainly; and more, this is the natural method
+of cure. The method that has as its work the application of drugs,
+medicines and external agencies is the artificial method. The only
+thing that any drug or any medicine can do is to remove obstructions,
+that the life forces may have simply a better chance to do their work.
+_The real healing process must be performed by the operation of the
+life forces within_. A surgeon and physician of world-wide fame
+recently made to his medical associates the following declaration: "For
+generations past the most important influence that plays upon
+nutrition, the _life principle_ itself, has remained an unconsidered
+element in the medical profession, and the almost exclusive drift of
+its studies and remedial paraphernalia has been confined to the action
+of matter over mind. This has seriously interfered with the
+evolutionary tendencies of the doctors themselves, and consequently the
+psychic factor in professional life is still in a rudimentary or
+comparatively undeveloped state. But the light of the nineteenth
+century has dawned, and so the march of mankind in general is taken in
+the direction of the hidden forces of nature. Doctors are now
+compelled to join the ranks of students in psychology and follow their
+patrons into the broader field of mental therapeutics. There is no
+time for lingering, no time for skepticism or doubt or hesitation. _He
+who lingers is lost, for the entire race is enlisted in the movement_."
+
+I am aware of the fact that in connection with the matter we are now
+considering there has been a great deal of foolishness during the past
+few years. Many absurd and foolish things have been claimed and done;
+but this says nothing against, and it has absolutely nothing to do with
+the great underlying laws themselves. The same has been true of the
+early days of practically every system of ethics or philosophy or
+religion the world has ever known. But as time has passed, these
+foolish, absurd things have fallen away, and the great eternal
+principles have stood out ever more and more clearly defined.
+
+I know _personally_ of many cases where an entire and permanent cure
+has been effected, in some within a remarkably short period of time,
+through the operation of these forces. Some of them are cases that had
+been entirely given up by the regular practice, _materia medica_. We
+have numerous accounts of such cases in all times and in connection
+with all religions. And why should not the power of effecting such
+cures exist among us today? The _power does exist_, and it will be
+actualized in just the degree that we recognize the same great laws
+that were recognized in times past.
+
+One person may do a very great deal in connection with the healing of
+another, but this almost invariably implies co-operation on the part of
+the one who is thus treated. In the cures that Christ performed he
+most always needed the co-operation of the one who appealed to him.
+His question almost invariably was, "Dost thou believe?" He thus
+stimulated into activity the life-giving forces within the one cured.
+If one is in a very weak condition, or if his nervous system is
+exhausted, or if his mind through the influence of the disease is not
+so strong in its workings, it may be well for him for a time to seek
+the aid and co-operation of another. But it would be far better for
+such a one could he bring himself to a vital realization of the
+omnipotence of his own interior powers.
+
+One may cure another, but to be _permanently healed_ one must do it
+himself. In this way another may be most valuable as a teacher by
+bringing one to a clear realization of the power of the forces within,
+but in every case, in order to have a permanent cure, the work of the
+self is necessary. Christ's words were almost invariably,--Go and sin
+no more, or, thy sins are forgiven thee, thus pointing out the one
+eternal and never-changing fact,--that all disease and its consequent
+suffering is the direct or the indirect result of the violation of law,
+either consciously or unconsciously, either intentionally or
+unintentionally.
+
+Suffering is designed to continue only so long as sin continues, sin
+not necessarily in the theological, but always in the philosophical
+sense, though many times in the sense of both. The moment the
+violation ceases, the moment one comes into perfect harmony with the
+law, the cause of the suffering ceases; and though there may be
+residing within the cumulative effects of past violation, the cause is
+removed, and consequently there can be no more effects in the form of
+additions, and even the diseased condition that has been induced from
+past violation will begin to disappear as soon as the right forces are
+set into activity.
+
+There is nothing that will more quickly and more completely bring one
+into harmony with the laws under which he lives than this vital
+realization of his oneness with the Infinite Spirit, which is the life
+of all life. In this there can be no disease, and nothing will more
+readily remove from the organism the obstructions that have accumulated
+there, or in other words, the disease that resides there, than this
+full realization and the complete opening of one's self to this divine
+inflow. "I shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live."
+
+The moment a person realizes his oneness with the Infinite Spirit he
+recognizes himself as a spiritual being, and no longer as a mere
+physical, material being. He then no longer makes the mistake of
+regarding himself as body, subject to ills and diseases, but he
+realizes the fact that he is spirit, spirit now as much as he ever will
+or can be, and that he is the builder and so the master of the body,
+the house in which he lives; and the moment he thus recognizes his
+power as master he ceases in any way to allow it the mastery over him.
+He no longer fears the elements or any of the forces that he now in his
+ignorance allows to take hold of and affect the body. The moment he
+realizes his own supremacy, instead of fearing them as he did when he
+was out of harmony with them, he learns to love them. He thus comes
+into harmony with them; or rather, he so orders them that they come
+into harmony with him. He who formerly was the slave has now become
+the master. The moment we come to love a thing it no longer carries
+harm for us.
+
+There are almost countless numbers today, weak and suffering in body,
+who would become strong and healthy if they would only give God an
+opportunity to do His work. To such I would say, _Don't shut out the
+divine inflow_. Do anything else rather than this. Open yourselves to
+it. Invite it. In the degree that you open yourselves to it, its
+inflowing tide will course through your bodies a force so vital that
+the old obstructions that are dominating them today will be driven out
+before it. "My words are life to them that find them, and health to
+all their flesh."
+
+There is a trough through which a stream of muddy water has been
+flowing for many days. The dirt has gradually collected on its sides
+and bottom, and it continues to collect as long as the muddy water
+flows through it. Change this. Open the trough to a swift-flowing
+stream of clear, crystal water, and in a very little while even the
+very dirt that has collected on its sides and bottom will be carried
+away. The trough will be entirely cleansed. It will present an aspect
+of beauty and no longer an aspect of ugliness. And more, the water
+that now courses through it will be of value; it will be an agent of
+refreshment, of health and of strength to those who use it.
+
+Yes, in just the degree that you realize your oneness with this
+Infinite Spirit of Life, and thus actualize your latent possibilities
+and powers, you will exchange dis-ease for ease, inharmony for harmony,
+suffering and pain for abounding health and strength. And in the
+degree that you realize this wholeness, this abounding health and
+strength in yourself, will you carry it to all with whom you come in
+contact; for _we must remember that health is contagious as well as
+disease_.
+
+
+I hear it asked, What can be said in a concrete way in regard to the
+practical application of these truths, so that one can hold himself in
+the enjoyment of perfect bodily health; and more, that one may heal
+himself of any existing disease? In reply, let it be said that the
+chief thing that can be done is to point out the great underlying
+principle, and that each individual must make his own application; one
+person cannot well make this for another.
+
+First let it be said, that the very fact of one's holding the thought
+of perfect health sets into operation vital forces which will in time
+be more or less productive of the effect,--perfect health. Then
+speaking more directly in regard to the great principle itself, from
+its very nature, it is clear that more can be accomplished through the
+process of realization than through the process of affirmation, though
+for some affirmation may be a help, an aid to realization.
+
+In the degree, however, that you come into a vital realization of your
+oneness with the Infinite Spirit of Life, whence all life in individual
+form has come and is continually coming, and in the degree that through
+this realization you open yourself to its divine inflow, do you set
+into operation forces that will sooner or later bring even the physical
+body into a state of abounding health and strength. For to realize
+that this Infinite Spirit of Life can from its very nature admit of no
+disease, and to realize that this, then, is the life in you, by
+realizing your oneness with it, you can so open yourself to its more
+abundant entrance that the diseased bodily conditions--effects--will
+respond to the influences of its all-perfect power, this either quickly
+or more tardily, depending entirely upon yourself.
+
+There have been those who have been able to open themselves so fully to
+this realization that the healing has been instantaneous and permanent.
+The degree of intensity always eliminates in like degree the element of
+time. _It must, however, be a calm, quiet, and expectant intensity,
+rather than an intensity that is fearing, disturbed, and
+non-expectant_. Then there are others who have come to this
+realization by degrees.
+
+Many will receive great help, and many will be entirely healed by a
+practice somewhat after the following nature: With a mind at peace, and
+with a heart going out in love to all, go into the quiet of your own
+interior self, holding the thought,--I am one with the Infinite Spirit
+of Life, the life of my life. I then as spirit, I a spiritual being,
+can in my own real nature admit of no disease. I now open my body, in
+which disease has gotten a foothold, I open it fully to the inflowing
+tide of this Infinite Life, and it now, even now, is pouring in and
+coursing through my body, and the healing process is going on. Realize
+this so fully that you begin to feel a quickening and a warming glow
+imparted by the life forces to the body. Believe the healing process
+is going on. Believe it, and hold continually to it. Many people
+greatly desire a certain thing, but expect something else. They have
+greater faith in the power of evil than in the power of good, and hence
+remain ill.
+
+If one will give himself to this meditation, realization, treatment, or
+whatever term it may seem best to use, at stated times, as often as he
+may choose, and then _continually hold himself in the same attitude of
+mind_, thus allowing the force to work continually, he will be
+surprised how rapidly the body will be exchanging conditions of disease
+and inharmony for health and harmony. There is no particular reason,
+however, for this surprise, for in this way he is simply allowing the
+Omnipotent Power to do the work, which will have to do it ultimately in
+any case.
+
+If there is a local difficulty, and one wants to open this particular
+portion, in addition to the entire body, to this inflowing life, he can
+hold this particular portion in thought, for to fix the thought in this
+way upon any particular portion of the body stimulates or increases the
+flow of the life forces in that portion. It must always be borne in
+mind, however, that whatever healing may be thus accomplished, effects
+will not permanently cease until causes have been removed. In other
+words, _as long as there is the violation of law, so long disease and
+suffering will result_.
+
+This realization that we are considering will have an influence not
+only where there is a diseased condition of the body, but even where
+there is not this condition it will give an increased bodily life,
+vigor, and power.
+
+We have had many cases, in all times and in all countries, of healing
+through the operation of the interior forces, entirely independent of
+external agencies. Various have been the methods, or rather, various
+have been the names applied to them, but the great law underlying all
+is one and the same, and the same today. When the Master sent his
+followers forth, his injunction to them was to heal the sick and the
+afflicted, as well as to teach the people. The early church fathers
+had the power of healing, in short, it was a part of their work.
+
+And why should we not have the power today, the same as they had it
+then? Are the laws at all different? Identically the same. Why,
+then? Simply because, with a few rare exceptions here and there, we
+are unable to get beyond the mere letter of the law into its real vital
+spirit and power. It is the letter that killeth, it is the spirit that
+giveth life and power. Every soul who becomes so individualized that
+he breaks through the mere letter and enters into the real vital
+spirit, _will have the power_, as have all who have gone before, and
+when he does, he will also be the means of imparting it to others, for
+he will be one who will move and who will speak with authority.
+
+We are rapidly finding today, and we shall find even more and more, as
+time passes, that practically all disease, with its consequent
+suffering, has its origin in perverted mental and emotional states and
+conditions. _The mental attitude we take toward anything determines to
+a greater or less extent its effects upon us_. If we fear it, or if we
+antagonize it, the chances are that it will have detrimental or even
+disastrous effects upon us. If we come into harmony with it by quietly
+recognizing and inwardly asserting our superiority over it, in the
+degree that we are able successfully to do this, in that degree will it
+carry with it no injury for us.
+
+No disease can enter into or take hold of our bodies unless it find
+therein something corresponding to itself which makes it possible. And
+in the same way, no evil or undesirable condition of any kind can come
+into our lives unless there is already in them that which invites it
+and so makes it possible for it to come. The sooner we begin to look
+within ourselves for the cause of whatever comes to us, the better it
+will be, for so much the sooner will we begin to make conditions within
+ourselves such that only _good_ may enter.
+
+We, who from our very natures should be masters of all conditions, by
+virtue of our ignorance are mastered by almost numberless conditions of
+every description.
+
+Do I fear a draft? There is nothing in the draft--a little purifying
+current of God's pure air--to cause me trouble, to bring on a cold,
+perhaps an illness. The draft can affect me only in the degree that _I
+myself_ make it possible, only in the degree that I allow it to affect
+me. We must distinguish between causes and mere occasions. The draft
+is not cause, nor does it carry cause with it.
+
+Two persons are sitting in the same draft. The one is injuriously
+affected by it, the other experiences not even an inconvenience, but he
+rather enjoys it. The one is a creature of circumstances; he fears the
+draft, cringes before it, continually thinks of the harm it is doing
+him. In other words, he opens every avenue for it to enter and take
+hold of him, and so it--harmless and beneficent in itself--brings to
+him exactly what he has empowered it to bring. The other recognizes
+himself as the master over and not the creature of circumstances. He
+is not concerned about the draft. He puts himself into harmony with
+it, makes himself positive to it, and instead of experiencing any
+discomfort, he enjoys it, and in addition to its doing him a service by
+bringing the pure fresh air from without to him, it does him the
+additional service of hardening him even more to any future conditions
+of a like nature. But if the draft was cause, it would bring the same
+results to both. The fact that it does not, shows that it is not a
+cause, but a condition, and it brings to each, effects which correspond
+to the conditions it finds within each.
+
+Poor draft! How many thousands, nay millions of times it is made the
+scapegoat by those who are too ignorant or too unfair to look their own
+weaknesses square in the face, and who instead of becoming imperial
+masters, remain cringing slaves. Think of it, what it means! A man
+created in the image of the eternal God, sharer of His life and power,
+born to have dominion, fearing, shaking, cringing before a little draft
+of pure life-giving air. But scapegoats are convenient things, even if
+the only thing they do for us is to aid us in our constant efforts at
+self-delusion.
+
+The best way to disarm a draft of the bad effects it has been
+accustomed to bring one, is first to bring about a pure and healthy set
+of conditions within, then, to change one's mental attitude toward it.
+Recognize the fact that of itself it has no power, it has only the
+power you invest it with. Thus you will put yourself into harmony with
+it, and will no longer sit in fear of it. Then sit in a draft a few
+times and get hardened to it, as every one, by going at it judiciously,
+can readily do. "But suppose one is in delicate health, or especially
+subject to drafts?" Then be simply a little judicious at first; don't
+seek the strongest that can be found, especially if you do not as yet
+in your own mind feel equal to it, for if you do not, it signifies that
+you still fear it. That supreme regulator of all life, _good common
+sense_, must be used here, the same as elsewhere.
+
+If we are born to have dominion, and that we are is demonstrated by the
+fact that some have attained to it,--and what one _has_ done, soon or
+late all _can_ do,--then it is not necessary that we live under the
+domination of any physical agent. In the degree that we recognize our
+own interior powers, then are we rulers and able to dictate; in the
+degree that we fail to recognize them, we are slaves, and are dictated
+to. We build whatever we find within us; we attract whatever comes to
+us, and all in accordance with spiritual law, for all natural law is
+spiritual law.
+
+The whole of human life is cause and effect; there is no such thing in
+it as chance, nor is there even in all the wide universe. Are we not
+satisfied with whatever comes into our lives? The thing to do, then,
+is not to spend time in railing against the imaginary something we
+create and call fate, but to look to the within, and change the causes
+at work there, in order that things of a different nature may come, for
+there will come exactly what we cause to come. This is true not only
+of the physical body, but of all phases and conditions of life. We
+invite whatever comes, and did we not invite it, either consciously or
+unconsciously, it could not and it would not come. This may
+undoubtedly be hard for some to believe, or even to see, at first. But
+in the degree that one candidly and open-mindedly looks at it, and then
+studies into the silent, but subtle and, so to speak, omnipotent
+workings of the thought forces, and as he traces their effects within
+him and about him, it becomes clearly evident, and easy to understand.
+
+And then whatever does come to one depends for its effects entirely
+upon his mental attitude toward it. Does this or that occurrence or
+condition cause you annoyance? Very well; it causes you annoyance, and
+so disturbs your peace merely because you allow it to. You are born to
+have absolute control over your own dominion, but if you voluntarily
+hand over this power, even if for a little while, to some one or to
+some thing else, then you of course, become the creature, the one
+controlled.
+
+To live undisturbed by passing occurrences you must first find your own
+centre. You must then be firm in your own centre, and so rule the
+world from within. He who does not himself condition circumstances
+allows the process to be reversed, and becomes a conditioned
+circumstance. Find your centre and live in it. Surrender it to no
+person, to no thing. In the degree that you do this will you find
+yourself growing stronger and stronger in it. And how can one find his
+centre? By realizing his oneness with the Infinite Power, and by
+living continually in this realization.
+
+But if you do not rule from your own centre, if you invest this or that
+with the power of bringing you annoyance, or evil, or harm, then take
+what it brings, but cease your railings against the eternal goodness
+and beneficence of all things.
+
+ "I swear the earth shall surely be complete
+ To him or her who shall be complete;
+ The earth remains jagged and broken
+ Only to him who remains jagged and broken."
+
+
+If the windows of your soul are dirty and streaked, covered with matter
+foreign to them, then the world as you look out of them will be to you
+dirty and streaked and out of order. Cease your complainings, however;
+keep your pessimism, your "poor, unfortunate me" to yourself, lest you
+betray the fact that your windows are badly in need of something. But
+know that your friend, who keeps his windows clean, that the Eternal
+Sun may illumine all within and make visible all without,--know that he
+lives in a different world from yours.
+
+Then, go wash your windows, and instead of longing for some other
+world, you will discover the wonderful beauties of this world; and if
+you don't find transcendent beauties on every hand here, the chances
+are that you will never find them anywhere.
+
+ "The poem hangs on the berry-bush
+ When comes the poet's eye,
+ And the whole street is a masquerade
+ When Shakspeare passes by."
+
+
+This same Shakspeare, whose mere passing causes all this commotion, is
+the one who put into the mouth of one of his creations the words: "The
+fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are
+underlings." And the great work of his own life is right good evidence
+that he realized full well the truth of the facts we are considering.
+And again he gave us a great truth in keeping with what we are
+considering when he said:
+
+ "Our doubts are traitors,
+ And make us lose the good we oft might win
+ By _fearing_ to attempt."
+
+
+There is probably no agent that brings us more undesirable conditions
+than fear. We should live in fear of nothing, nor will we when we come
+fully to know ourselves. An old French proverb runs
+
+ "Some of your griefs you have cured,
+ And the sharpest you still have survived;
+ But what _torments of pain_ you endured
+ From evils that never arrived."
+
+
+Fear and lack of faith go hand in hand. The one is born of the other.
+Tell me how much one is given to fear, and I will tell you how much he
+lacks in faith. Fear is a most expensive guest to entertain, the same
+as worry is: so expensive are they that no one can afford to entertain
+them. _We invite what we fear, the same as, by a different attitude of
+mind, we invite and attract the influences and conditions we desire_.
+The mind dominated by fear opens the door for the entrance of the very
+things, for the actualization of the very conditions it fears.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked an Eastern pilgrim on meeting the plague
+one day. "I am going to Bagdad to kill five thousand people," was the
+reply. A few days later the same pilgrim met the plague returning.
+"You told me you were going to Bagdad to kill five thousand people,"
+said he, "but instead, you killed fifty thousand." "No," said the
+plague. "_I killed only five thousand_, as I told you I would; _the
+others died of fright_."
+
+Fear can paralyze every muscle in the body. Fear affects the flow of
+the blood, likewise the normal and healthy action of all the life
+forces. Fear can make the body rigid, motionless, and powerless to
+move.
+
+Not only do we attract to ourselves the things we fear, but we also aid
+in attracting to others the conditions we in our own minds hold them in
+fear of. This we do in proportion to the strength of our own thought,
+and in the degree that they are sensitively organized and so influenced
+by our thought, and this, although it be unconscious both on their part
+and on ours.
+
+Children, and especially when very young, are, generally speaking, more
+sensitive to their surrounding influences than grown people are. Some
+are veritable little sensitive plates, registering the influences about
+them, and embodying them as they grow. How careful in their prevailing
+mental states then should be those who have them in charge, and
+especially how careful should a mother be during the time she is
+carrying the child, and when every thought, every mental as well as
+emotional state has its direct influence upon the life of the unborn
+child. Let parents be careful how they hold a child, either younger or
+older, in the thought of fear. This is many times done, unwittingly on
+their part, through anxiety, and at times through what might well be
+termed over-care, which is fully as bad as under-care.
+
+I know of a number of cases where a child has been so continually held
+in the thought of fear lest this or that condition come upon him, that
+the very things that were feared have been drawn to him, which probably
+otherwise never would have come at all. Many times there has been no
+adequate basis for the fear. In case there is a basis, then far wiser
+is it to take exactly the opposite attitude, so as to neutralize the
+force at work, and then to hold the child in the thought of wisdom and
+strength that it may be able to meet the condition and master it,
+instead of being mastered by it.
+
+But a day or two ago a friend was telling me of an experience of his
+own life in this connection. At a period when he was having a terrific
+struggle with a certain habit, he was so continually held in the
+thought of fear by his mother and the young lady to whom he was
+engaged,--the engagement to be consummated at the end of a certain
+period, the time depending on his proving his mastery,--that he, very
+sensitively organized, _continually_ felt the depressing and weakening
+effects of their negative thoughts. He could always tell exactly how
+they felt toward him; he was continually influenced and weakened by
+their fear, by their questionings, by their suspicions, all of which
+had the effect of lessening the sense of his own power, all of which
+had an endeavor-paralyzing influence upon him. And so instead of their
+begetting courage and strength in him, they brought him to a still
+greater realization of his own weakness and the almost worthless use of
+struggle.
+
+Here were two who loved him dearly, and who would have done anything
+and everything to help him gain the mastery, but who, ignorant of the
+silent, subtle, ever-working and all-telling power of the thought
+forces, instead of imparting to him courage, instead of adding to his
+strength, disarmed him of this, and then added an additional weakness
+from without. In this way the battle for him was made harder in a
+three-fold degree.
+
+Fear and worry and all kindred mental states are too expensive for any
+person, man, woman, or child, to entertain or indulge in. Fear
+paralyzes healthy action, worry corrodes and pulls down the organism,
+and will finally tear it to pieces. Nothing is to be gained by it, but
+everything to be lost. Long-continued grief at any loss will do the
+same. Each brings its own peculiar type of ailment. An inordinate
+love of gain, a close-fisted, hoarding disposition will have kindred
+effects. Anger, jealousy, malice, continual fault-finding, lust, has
+each its own peculiar corroding, weakening, tearing-down effects.
+
+We shall find that not only are happiness and prosperity concomitants
+of righteousness,--living in harmony with the higher laws, but bodily
+health as well. The great Hebrew seer enunciated a wonderful chemistry
+of life when he said,--"As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that
+pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death." On the other hand, "In
+the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is
+no death." The time will come when it will be seen that this means far
+more than most people dare _even to think as yet_. "It rests with man
+to say whether his soul shall be housed in a stately mansion of
+ever-growing splendor and beauty, or in a hovel of his own building,--a
+hovel at last ruined and abandoned to decay."
+
+The bodies of almost untold numbers, living their one-sided, unbalanced
+lives, are every year, through these influences, weakening and falling
+by the wayside long before their time. Poor, poor houses! Intended to
+be beautiful temples, brought to desolation by their ignorant,
+reckless, deluded tenants. Poor houses!
+
+
+A close observer, a careful student of the power of the thought forces,
+will soon be able to read in the voice, in the movements, in the
+features, the effects registered by the prevailing mental states and
+conditions. Or, if he is told the prevailing mental states and
+conditions, he can describe the voice, the movements, the features, as
+well as describe, in a general way, the peculiar physical ailments
+their possessor is heir to.
+
+We are told by good authority that a study of the human body, its
+structure, and the length of time it takes it to come to maturity, in
+comparison with the time it takes the bodies of various animals and
+their corresponding longevity, reveals the fact that its natural age
+should be nearer a hundred and twenty years than what we commonly find
+it today. But think of the multitudes all about us whose bodies are
+aging, weakening, breaking, so that they have to abandon them long
+before they reach what ought to be a long period of strong, vigorous
+middle life.
+
+Then, the natural length of life being thus shortened, it comes to be
+what we might term a race belief that this shortened period is the
+natural period. And as a consequence many, when they approach a
+certain age, seeing that as a rule people at this period of life begin
+to show signs of age, to break and go down hill as we say, they,
+thinking it a matter of course and that it must be the same with them,
+by taking this attitude of mind, many times bring upon themselves these
+very conditions long before it is necessary. Subtle and powerful are
+the influences of the mind in the building and rebuilding of the body.
+As we understand them better it may become the custom for people to
+look forward with pleasure to the teens of their second century.
+
+There comes to mind at this moment a friend, a lady well on to eighty
+years of age. An old lady, some, most people in fact, would call her,
+especially those who measure age by the number of the seasons that have
+come and gone since one's birth. But to call our friend old, would be
+to call black white. She is no older than a girl of twenty-five, and
+indeed younger, I am glad to say, or I am sorry to say, depending upon
+the point of view, than _many_ a girl of this age. Seeking for the
+good in all people and in all things, she has found the good
+everywhere. The brightness of disposition and of voice that is hers
+today, that attracts all people to her and that makes her so
+beautifully attractive to all people, has characterized her all through
+life. It has in turn carried brightness and hope and courage and
+strength to hundreds and thousands of people through all these years,
+and will continue to do so, apparently, for many years yet to come.
+
+No fears, no worryings, no hatreds, no jealousies, no sorrowings, no
+grievings, no sordid graspings after inordinant [Transcriber's note:
+inordinate?] gain, have found entrance into her realm of thought. As a
+consequence her mind, free from these abnormal states and conditions,
+has not externalized in her body the various physical ailments that the
+great majority of people are lugging about with them, thinking in their
+ignorance, that they are natural, and that it is all in accordance with
+the "eternal order of things" that they should have them. Her life has
+been one of varied experiences, so that all these things would have
+found ready entrance into the realm of her mind and so into her life
+were she ignorant enough to allow them entrance. On the contrary she
+has been wise enough to recognize the fact that in one kingdom at least
+she is ruler,--the kingdom of her mind, and that it is hers to dictate
+as to what shall and what shall not enter there. She knows, moreover,
+that in determining this she is determining all the conditions of her
+life. It is indeed a pleasure as well as an inspiration to see her as
+she goes here and there, to see her sunny disposition, her youthful
+step, to hear her joyous laughter. Indeed and in truth, Shakspeare
+knew whereof he spoke when he said,--"It is the mind that makes the
+body rich."
+
+With great pleasure I watched her but recently as she was walking along
+the street, stopping to have a word and so a part in the lives of a
+group of children at play by the wayside, hastening her step a little
+to have a word with a washerwoman toting her bundle of clothes,
+stopping for a word with a laboring man returning with dinner pail in
+hand from his work, returning the recognition from the lady in her
+carriage, and so imparting some of her own rich life to all with whom
+she came in contact.
+
+And as good fortune would have it, while still watching her, an old
+lady passed her,--really old, this one, though at least ten or fifteen
+years younger, so far as the count by the seasons is concerned.
+Nevertheless she was bent in form and apparently stiff in joint and
+muscle. Silent in mood, she wore a countenance of long-faced sadness,
+which was intensified surely several fold by a black, sombre headgear
+with an immense heavy veil still more sombre looking if possible. Her
+entire dress was of this description. By this relic-of-barbarism garb,
+combined with her own mood and expression, she continually proclaimed
+to the world two things,--her own personal sorrows and woes, which by
+this very method she kept continually fresh in her mind, and also her
+lack of faith in the eternal goodness of things, her lack of faith in
+the love and eternal goodness of the Infinite Father.
+
+Wrapped only in the thoughts of her own ailments, and sorrows, and
+woes, she received and she gave nothing of joy, nothing of hope,
+nothing of courage, nothing of value to those whom she passed or with
+whom she came in contact. But on the contrary she suggested to all and
+helped to intensify in many, those mental states all too prevalent in
+our common human life. And as she passed our friend one could notice a
+slight turn of the head which, coupled with the expression in her face,
+seemed to indicate this as her thought,--Your dress and your conduct
+are not wholly in keeping with a lady of your years. Thank God, then,
+thank God they are not. And may He in His great goodness and love send
+us an innumerable company of the same rare type; and may they live a
+thousand years to bless mankind, to impart the life-giving influences
+of their own royal lives to the numerous ones all about us who stand so
+much in need of them.
+
+Would you remain always young, and would you carry all the joyousness
+and buoyancy of youth into your maturer years? Then have care
+concerning but one thing,--how you live in your thought world. This
+will determine all. It was the inspired one, Gautama, the Buddha, who
+said,--"The mind is everything; what you think you become." And the
+same thing had Ruskin in mind when he said,--"Make yourself nests of
+pleasant thoughts. None of us as yet know, for none of us have been
+taught in early youth, what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful
+thought,--_proof against all adversity_."
+
+And would you have in your body all the elasticity, all the strength,
+all the beauty of your younger years? Then live these in your mind,
+making no room for unclean thought, and you will externalize them in
+your body. In the degree that you keep young in thought will you
+remain young in body. And you will find that your body will in turn
+aid your mind, for body helps mind the same as mind builds body.
+
+You are continually building, and so externalizing in your body
+conditions most akin to the thoughts and emotions you entertain. And
+not only are you so building from within, but you are also continually
+drawing from without, forces of a kindred nature. Your particular kind
+of thought connects you with a similar order of thought from without.
+If it is bright, hopeful, cheerful, you connect yourself with a current
+of thought of this nature. If it is sad, fearing, despondent, then
+this is the order of thought you connect yourself with.
+
+If the latter is the order of your thought, then perhaps unconsciously
+and by degrees you have been connecting yourself with it. You need to
+go back and pick up again a part of your child nature, with its
+careless and cheerful type of thought. "The minds of the group of
+children at play are unconsciously concentrated in drawing to their
+bodies a current of playful thought. Place a child by itself, deprive
+it of its companions, and soon it will mope and become slow of
+movement. It is cut off from that peculiar thought current and is
+literally 'out of its element.'
+
+"You need to bring again this current of playful thought to you which
+has gradually been turned off. You are too serious or sad, or absorbed
+in the serious affairs of life. You can be playful and cheerful
+without being puerile or silly. You can carry on business all the
+better for being in the playful mood when your mind is off your
+business. There is nothing but ill resulting from the permanent mood
+of sadness and seriousness,--the mood which by many so long maintained
+makes it actually difficult for them to smile at all.
+
+"At eighteen or twenty you commenced growing out of the more playful
+tendency of early youth. You took hold of the more serious side of
+life. You went into some business. You became more or less involved
+in its cares, perplexities and responsibilities. Or, as man or woman,
+you entered on some phase of life involving care or trouble. Or you
+became absorbed in some game of business which, as you followed it,
+left no time for play. Then as you associated with older people you
+absorbed their old ideas, their mechanical methods of thinking, their
+acceptance of errors without question or thought of question. In all
+this you opened your mind to a heavy, care-laden current of thought.
+Into this you glided unconsciously. That thought is materialized in
+your blood and flesh. The seen of your body is a deposit or
+crystallization of the unseen element ever flowing to your body from
+your mind. Years pass on and you find that your movements are stiff
+and cumbrous,--that you can with difficulty climb a tree, as at
+fourteen. Your mind has all this time been sending to your body these
+heavy, inelastic elements, making your body what now it is. . . .
+
+"Your change for the better must be gradual, and can only be
+accomplished by bringing the thought current of an all-round
+symmetrical strength to bear on it,--by demanding of the Supreme Power
+to be led in the best way, by diverting your mind from the many
+unhealthy thoughts which habitually have been flowing into it without
+your knowing it, to healthier ones. . . .
+
+"Like the beast, the bodies of those of our race have in the past
+weakened and decayed. This will not always be. Increase of spiritual
+knowledge will show the cause of such decay, and will show, also, how
+to take advantage of a Law or Force to build us up, renew ever the body
+and give it greater and greater strength, instead of blindly using that
+Law or Force, as has been done in the past, to weaken our bodies and
+finally destroy them."
+
+
+Full, rich, and abounding health is the normal and the natural
+condition of life. Anything else is an abnormal condition, and
+abnormal conditions as a rule come through perversions. God never
+created sickness, suffering, and disease; they are man's own creations.
+They come through his violating the laws under which he lives. So used
+are we to seeing them that we come gradually, if not to think of them
+as natural, then to look upon them as a matter of course.
+
+The time will come when the work of the physician will not be to treat
+and attempt to heal the body, but to heal the mind, which in turn will
+heal the body. In other words, the true physician will be a teacher;
+his work will be to keep people well, instead of attempting to make
+them well after sickness and disease comes on; and still beyond this
+there will come a time when each will be his own physician. In the
+degree that we live in harmony with the higher laws of our being, and
+so, in the degree that we become better acquainted with the powers of
+the mind and spirit, will we give less attention to the body,--no less
+_care_, but less _attention_.
+
+The bodies of thousands today would be much better cared for if their
+owners gave them less thought and attention. As a rule, those who
+think least of their bodies enjoy the best health. Many are kept in
+continual ill health by the abnormal thought and attention they give
+them.
+
+Give the body the nourishment, the exercise, the fresh air, the
+sunlight it requires, keep it clean, and then think of it as little as
+possible. In your thoughts and in your conversation never dwell upon
+the negative side. Don't talk of sickness and disease. By talking of
+these you do yourself harm and you do harm to those who listen to you.
+Talk of those things that will make people the better for listening to
+you. Thus you will infect them with health and strength and not with
+weakness and disease.
+
+To dwell upon the negative side is always destructive. This is true of
+the body the same as it is true of all other things. The following
+from one whose thorough training as a physician has been supplemented
+by extensive study and observations along the lines of the powers of
+the interior forces, are of special significance and value in this
+connection: "We can never gain health by contemplating disease, any
+more than we can reach perfection by dwelling upon imperfection, or
+harmony through discord. We should keep a high ideal of health and
+harmony constantly before the mind. . . .
+
+"Never affirm or repeat about your health what you do not wish to be
+true. Do not dwell upon your ailments, nor study your symptoms. Never
+allow yourself to be convinced that you are not complete master of
+yourself. Stoutly affirm your superiority over bodily ills, and do not
+acknowledge yourself the slave of any inferior power. . . . I would
+teach children early to build a strong barrier between themselves and
+disease, by healthy habits of thought, high thinking, and purity of
+life. I would teach them to expel all thoughts of death, all images of
+disease, all discordant emotions, like hatred, malice, revenge, envy,
+and sensuality, as they would banish a temptation to do evil. I would
+teach them that bad food, bad drink, or bad air makes bad blood; that
+bad blood makes bad tissue, and bad flesh bad morals. I would teach
+them that healthy thoughts are as essential to healthy bodies as pure
+thoughts to a clean life. I would teach them to cultivate a strong
+will power, and to brace themselves against life's enemies in every
+possible way. I would teach the sick to have hope, confidence, cheer.
+Our thoughts and imaginations are the only real limits to our
+possibilities. No man's success or health will ever reach beyond his
+own confidence; as a rule, we erect our own barriers.
+
+"Like produces like the universe through. Hatred, envy, malice,
+jealousy, and revenge all have children. Every bad thought breeds
+others, and each of these goes on and on, ever reproducing itself,
+until our world is peopled with their offspring. The true physician
+and parent of the future will not medicate the body with drugs so much
+as the mind with principles. The coming mother will teach her child to
+assuage the fever of anger, hatred, malice, with the great panacea of
+the world,--Love. The coming physician will teach the people to
+cultivate cheerfulness, good-will, and noble deeds for a health tonic
+as well as a heart tonic; and that a merry heart doeth good like a
+medicine."
+
+
+The health of your body, the same as the health and strength of your
+mind, depends upon what you relate yourself with. This Infinite Spirit
+of Life, this Source of all Life, can from its very nature, we have
+found, admit of no weakness, no disease. Come then into the full,
+conscious, vital realization of your oneness with this Infinite Life,
+open yourself to its more abundant entrance, and full and ever-renewing
+bodily health and strength will be yours.
+
+ "And good may ever conquer ill,
+ Health walk where pain has trod;
+ 'As a man thinketh, so is he,'
+ Rise, then, and think with God."
+
+
+The whole matter may then be summed up in the one sentence, "God is
+well and so are you." You must awaken to the knowledge of your _real
+being_. When this awakening comes, you will have, and you will see
+that you have, the power to determine what conditions are externalized
+in your body. You must recognize, you must realize yourself as one
+with Infinite Spirit. God's will is then your will; your will is God's
+will, and "with God all things are possible." When we are able to do
+away with all sense of separateness by living continually in the
+realization of this oneness, not only will our bodily ills and
+weaknesses vanish, but all limitations along all lines.
+
+Then "delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires
+of thine heart." Then will you feel like crying all the day long, "The
+lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly
+heritage." Drop out of mind your belief in good things and good events
+coming to you in the future. Come _now_ into the real life, and
+coming, appropriate and actualize them _now_. Remember that only the
+best is good enough for one with a heritage so royal as yours.
+
+ "We buy ashes for bread;
+ We buy diluted wine;
+ Give me the true,--
+ Whose ample leaves and tendrils curled
+ Among the silver hills of heaven,
+ Draw everlasting dew."
+
+
+
+
+THE SECRET, POWER, AND EFFECTS OF LOVE.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Love. The moment we recognize ourselves
+as one with it we become so filled with love that we see only the good
+in all. And when we realize that we are all one with this Infinite
+Spirit, then we realize that in a sense we are all one with each other.
+When we come into a recognition of this fact, we can then do no harm to
+any one, to any thing. We find that we are all members of the one
+great body, and that no portion of the body can be harmed without all
+the other portions suffering thereby.
+
+When we fully realize the great fact of the oneness of all life,--that
+all are partakers from this one Infinite Source, and so that the same
+life is the life in each individual, then prejudices go and hatreds
+cease. Love grows and reigns supreme. Then, wherever we go, whenever
+we come in contact with the fellow-man, we are able to recognize the
+God within. We thus look only for the good, and we find it. It always
+pays.
+
+There is a deep scientific fact underlying the great truth, "He that
+takes the sword shall perish by the sword." The moment we come into a
+realization of the subtle powers of the thought forces, we can quickly
+see that the moment we entertain any thoughts of hatred toward another,
+he gets the effects of these diabolical forces that go out from us, and
+has the same thoughts of hatred aroused in him, which in turn return to
+the sender. Then when we understand the effects of the passion, hatred
+or anger, even upon the physical body, we can see how detrimental, how
+expensive this is. The same is true in regard to all kindred thoughts
+or passions, envy, criticism, jealousy, scorn. In the ultimate we
+shall find that in entertaining feelings of this nature toward another,
+we always suffer far more than the one toward whom we entertain them.
+
+And then when we fully realize the fact that selfishness is at the root
+of all error, sin, and crime, and that ignorance is the basis of all
+selfishness, with what charity we come to look upon the acts of all.
+It is the ignorant man who seeks his own ends at the expense of the
+greater whole. It is the ignorant man, therefore, who is the selfish
+man. The truly wise man is never selfish. He is a seer, and
+recognizes the fact that he, a single member of the one great body, is
+benefited in just the degree that the entire body is benefited, and so
+he seeks nothing for himself that he would not equally seek for all
+mankind.
+
+If selfishness is at the bottom of all error, sin, and crime, and
+ignorance is the basis of all selfishness, then when we see a
+manifestation of either of these qualities, if we are true to the
+highest within us, we will look for and will seek to call forth the
+good in each individual with whom we come in contact. When God speaks
+to God, then God responds, and shows forth as God. But when devil
+speaks to devil, then devil responds, and the devil is always to pay.
+
+I sometimes hear a person say, "I don't see any good in him." No?
+Then you are no seer. Look deeper and you will find the very God in
+every human soul. But remember it takes a God to recognize a God.
+Christ always spoke to the highest, the truest, and the best in men.
+He knew and he recognized the God in each because he had first realized
+it in himself. He ate with publicans and sinners. Abominable, the
+Scribes and Pharisees said. They were so wrapped up in their own
+conceits, their own self-centredness, hence their own ignorance, that
+they had never found the God in themselves, and so they never dreamed
+that it was the real life of even publicans and sinners.
+
+In the degree that we hold a person in the thought of evil or of error,
+do we suggest evil and error to him. In the degree that he is
+sensitively organized, or not well individualized, and so, subject to
+the suggestions of the thought forces from others, will he be
+influenced; and so in this way we may be sharers in the very evil-doing
+in which we hold another in thought. In the same way when we hold a
+person in the thought of the right, the good, and the true,
+righteousness, goodness, and truth are suggested to him, and thus we
+have a most beneficent influence on his life and conduct. If our
+hearts go out in love to all with whom we come in contact, we inspire
+love, and the same ennobling and warming influences of love always
+return to us from those in whom we inspire them. There is a deep
+scientific principle underlying the precept--If you would have all the
+world love you, you must first love all the world.
+
+In the degree that we love will we be loved. Thoughts are forces.
+Each creates of its kind. Each comes back laden with the effect that
+corresponds to itself and of which it is the cause.
+
+ "Then let your secret thoughts be fair--
+ They have a vital part, and share
+ In shaping words and moulding fate;
+ God's system is so intricate."
+
+
+I know of no better practice than that of a friend who continually
+holds himself in an attitude of mind that he continually sends out his
+love in the form of the thought,--"Dear everybody, I love you." And
+when we realize the fact that a thought invariably produces its effect
+before it returns, or before it ceases, we can see how he is
+continually breathing out a blessing not only upon all with whom he
+comes in contact, but upon all the world. These same thoughts of love,
+moreover, tokened in various ways, are continually coming to him from
+all quarters.
+
+Even animals feel the effects of these forces. Some animals are much
+more sensitively organized than many people are, and consequently they
+get the effects of our thoughts, our mental states, and emotions much
+more readily than many people do. Therefore whenever we meet an animal
+we can do it good by sending out to it these thoughts of love. It will
+feel the effects whether we simply entertain or whether we voice them.
+And it is often interesting to note how quickly it responds, and how
+readily it gives evidence of its appreciation of this love and
+consideration on our part.
+
+What a privilege and how enjoyable it would be to live and walk in a
+world where we meet only Gods. In such a world you can live. In such
+a world I can live. For in the degree that we come into this higher
+realization do we see only the God in each human soul; and when we are
+thus able to see Him in every one we meet, we then live in such a world.
+
+And when we thus recognize the God in every one, we by this recognition
+help to call it forth ever more and more. What a privilege,--this
+privilege of yours, this privilege of mine! That hypocritical judging
+of another is something then with which we can have nothing to do; for
+we have the power of looking beyond the evolving, changing,
+error-making self, and seeing the real, the changeless, the eternal
+self which by and by will show forth in the full beauty of holiness.
+We are then large enough also to realize the fact that when we condemn
+another, by that very act we condemn ourselves.
+
+This realization so fills us with love that we continually overflow it,
+and all with whom we come in contact feel its warming and life-giving
+power. These in turn send back the same feelings of love to us, and so
+we continually attract love from all quarters. Tell me how much one
+loves and I will tell you how much he has seen of God. Tell me how
+much he loves and I will tell you how much he lives with God. Tell me
+how much he loves and I will tell you how far into the Kingdom of
+Heaven,--the kingdom of harmony, he has entered, for "love is the
+fulfilling of the law."
+
+And in a sense love is everything. It is the key to life, and its
+influences are those that move the world. Live only in the thought of
+love for all and you will draw love to you from all. Live in the
+thought of malice or hatred, and malice and hatred will come back to
+you.
+
+ "For evil poisons; malice shafts
+ Like boomerangs return,
+ Inflicting wounds that will not heal
+ While rage and anger burn."
+
+
+Every thought you entertain is a force that goes out, and every thought
+comes back laden with its kind. This is an immutable law. Every
+thought you entertain has moreover a direct effect upon your body.
+Love and its kindred emotions are the normal and the natural, those in
+accordance with the eternal order of the universe, for "God is love."
+These have a life-giving, health-engendering influence upon your body,
+besides beautifying your countenance, enriching your voice, and making
+you ever more attractive in every way. And as it is true that in the
+degree that you hold thoughts of love for all, you call the same from
+them in return, and as these have a direct effect upon your mind, and
+through your mind upon your body, it is as so much life force added to
+your own from without. You are then continually building this into
+both your mental and your physical life, and so your life is enriched
+by its influence.
+
+Hatred and all its kindred emotions are the unnatural, the abnormal,
+the perversions, and so, out of harmony with the eternal order of the
+universe. For if love is the fulfilling of the law, then these, its
+opposites, are direct violations of law, and there can never be a
+violation of law without its attendant pain and suffering in one form
+or another. There is no escape from this. And what is the result of
+this particular form of violation? When you allow thoughts of anger,
+hatred, malice, jealousy, envy, criticism, or scorn to exercise sway,
+they have a corroding and poisoning effect upon the organism; they pull
+it down, and if allowed to continue will eventually tear it to pieces
+by externalizing themselves in the particular forms of disease they
+give rise to. And then in addition to the destructive influences from
+your own mind you are continually calling the same influences from
+other minds, and these come as destructive forces augmenting your own,
+thus aiding in the tearing down process.
+
+And so love inspires love; hatred breeds hatred. Love and good will
+stimulate and build up the body; hatred and malice corrode and tear it
+down. Love is a savor of life unto life; hatred is a savor of death
+unto death.
+
+ "There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,
+ There are souls that are pure and true;
+ Then give to the world the best you have,
+ And the best will come back to you.
+
+ "Give love, and love to _your_ heart will flow,
+ A strength in your utmost need;
+ Have faith, and a score of hearts will show
+ Their faith in _your_ word and deed."
+
+
+I hear it said,--How in regard to one who bears me hatred, towards whom
+I have entertained no such thoughts and feelings, and so have not been
+the cause of his becoming my enemy? This may be true, but the chances
+are that you will have but few enemies if there is nothing of an
+antagonistic nature in your own mind and heart. Be sure there is
+nothing of this nature. But if hatred should come from another without
+apparent cause on your part, then meet it from first to last with
+thoughts of love and good-will. In this way you can, so to speak, so
+neutralize its effects that it cannot reach you and so cannot harm you.
+Love is positive, and stronger than hatred. Hatred can always be
+conquered by love.
+
+On the other hand, if you meet hatred with hatred, you simply intensify
+it. You add fuel to the flame already kindled, upon which it will feed
+and grow, and so you increase and intensify the evil conditions.
+Nothing is to be gained by it, everything is to be lost. By sending
+love for hatred you will be able so to neutralize it that it will not
+only have no effect upon you, but will not be able even to reach you.
+But more than this, you will by this course sooner or later be able
+literally to transmute the enemy into the friend. Meet hatred with
+hatred and you degrade yourself. Meet hatred with love and you elevate
+not only yourself but also the one who bears you hatred.
+
+The Persian sage has said, "Always meet petulance with gentleness, and
+perverseness with kindness. A gentle hand can lead even an elephant by
+a hair. Reply to thine enemy with gentleness. Opposition to peace is
+sin." The Buddhist says, "If a man foolishly does me wrong I will
+return him the protection of my ungrudging love. The more evil comes
+from him the more good shall go from me." "The wise man avenges
+injuries by benefits," says the Chinese. "Return good for evil,
+overcome anger by love; hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love,"
+says the Hindu.
+
+The truly wise man or woman will recognize no one as an enemy.
+Occasionally we hear the expression, "Never mind; I'll get even with
+him." Will you? And how will you do it? You can do it in one of two
+ways. You can, as you have in mind, deal with him as he deals, or
+apparently deals, with you,--pay him, as we say, in his own coin. If
+you do this you will get even with him by sinking yourself to his
+level, and both of you will suffer by it. Or, you can show yourself
+the larger, you can send him love for hatred, kindness for
+ill-treatment, and so get even with him by raising him to the higher
+level. But remember that you can never help another without by that
+very act helping yourself; and if forgetful of self, then in most all
+cases the value to you is greater than the service you render another.
+If you are ready to treat him as he treats you, then you show clearly
+that there is in you that which draws the hatred and ill-treatment to
+you; you deserve what you are getting and should not complain, nor
+would you complain if you were wise. By following the other course you
+most effectually accomplish your purpose,--you gain a victory for
+yourself, and at the same time you do a great service for him, for
+which it is evident he stands greatly in need.
+
+Thus you may become his saviour. He in turn may become the saviour of
+other error-making, and consequently care-encumbered men and women.
+Many times the struggles are greater than we can ever know. We need
+more gentleness and sympathy and compassion in our common human life.
+Then we will neither blame nor condemn. Instead of blaming or
+condemning we will sympathize, and all the more we will
+
+ "Comfort one another,
+ For the way is often dreary,
+ And the feet are often weary,
+ And the heart is very sad.
+ There is a heavy burden bearing,
+ When it seems that none are caring,
+ And we half forget that ever we were glad
+
+ "Comfort one another
+ With the hand-clasp close and tender,
+ With the sweetness love can render,
+ And the looks of friendly eyes.
+ Do not wait with grace unspoken,
+ While life's daily bread is broken--
+ Gentle speech is oft like manna from the skies."
+
+
+When we come fully to realize the great fact that all evil and error
+and sin with all their consequent sufferings come through ignorance,
+then wherever we see a manifestation of these in whatever form, if our
+hearts are right, we will have compassion, sympathy and compassion for
+the one in whom we see them. Compassion will then change itself into
+love, and love will manifest itself in kindly service. Such is the
+divine method. And so instead of aiding in trampling and keeping a
+weaker one down, we will hold him up until he can stand alone and
+become the master. But all life-growth is from within out, and one
+becomes a true master in the degree that the knowledge of the divinity
+of his own nature dawns upon his inner consciousness and so brings him
+to a knowledge of the higher laws; and in no way can we so effectually
+hasten this dawning in the inner consciousness of another, as by
+showing forth the divinity within ourselves simply by the way we live.
+
+By example and not by precept. By living, not by preaching. By doing,
+not by professing. By living the life, not by dogmatizing as to how it
+should be lived. There is no contagion equal to the contagion of life.
+Whatever we sow, that shall we also reap, and each thing sown produces
+of its kind. We can kill not only by doing another bodily injury
+directly, but we can and we do kill by every antagonistic thought. Not
+only do we thus kill, but while we kill we suicide. Many a man has
+been made sick by having the ill thoughts of a number of people centred
+upon him; some have been actually killed. Put hatred into the world
+and we make it a literal hell. Put love into the world and heaven with
+all its beauties and glories becomes a reality.
+
+Not to love is not to live, or it is to live a living death. The life
+that goes out in love to all is the life that is full, and rich, and
+continually expanding in beauty and in power. Such is the life that
+becomes ever more inclusive, and hence larger in its scope and
+influence. The larger the man and the woman, the more inclusive they
+are in their love and their friendships. The smaller the man and the
+woman, the more dwarfed and dwindling their natures, the more they
+pride themselves upon their "exclusiveness." Any one--a fool or an
+idiot--can be exclusive. It comes easy. It takes and it signifies a
+large nature to be universal, to be inclusive. Only the man or the
+woman of a small, personal, self-centred, self-seeking nature is
+exclusive. The man or the woman of a large, royal, unself-centred
+nature never is. The small nature is the one that continually strives
+for effect. The larger nature never does. The one goes here and there
+in order to gain recognition, in order to attach himself to the world.
+The other stays at home and draws the world _to him_. The one loves
+merely himself. The other loves all the world; but in his larger love
+for all the world he finds himself included.
+
+Verily, then, the more one loves the nearer he approaches to God, for
+God is the spirit of infinite love. And when we come into the
+realization of our oneness with this Infinite Spirit, then divine love
+so fills us that, enriching and enrapturing our own lives, from them it
+flows out to enrich the life of all the world.
+
+In coming into the realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life,
+we are brought at once into right relations with our fellowmen. We are
+brought into harmony with the great law, that we find our own lives in
+losing them in the service of others. We are brought to a knowledge of
+the fact that all life is one, and so that we are all parts of the one
+great whole. We then realize that we can't do for another without at
+the same time doing for ourselves. We also realize that we cannot do
+harm to another without by that very act doing harm to ourselves. We
+realize that the man who lives to himself alone lives a little,
+dwarfed, and stunted life, because he has no part in this larger life
+of humanity. But the one who in service loses his own life in this
+larger life, has his own life increased and enriched a thousand or a
+million fold, and every joy, every happiness, everything of value
+coming to each member of this greater whole comes as such to him, for
+he has a part in the life of each and all.
+
+And here let a word be said in regard to true service. Peter and John
+were one day going up to the temple, and as they were entering the gate
+they were met by a poor cripple who asked them for alms. Instead of
+giving him something to supply the day's needs and then leaving him in
+the same dependent condition for the morrow and the morrow, Peter did
+him a real service, and a real service for all mankind by saying,
+Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give unto thee. _And
+then he made him whole_. He thus brought him into the condition where
+he could help himself. In other words, the greatest service we can do
+for another is to help him to help himself. To help him directly might
+be weakening, though not necessarily. It depends entirely upon
+circumstances. But to help one to help himself is never weakening, but
+always encouraging and strengthening, because it leads him to a larger
+and stronger life.
+
+There is no better way to help one to help himself than to bring him to
+a knowledge of himself. There is no better way to bring one to a
+knowledge of himself than to lead him to a knowledge of the powers that
+are lying dormant within his own soul. There is nothing that will
+enable him to come more readily or more completely into an awakened
+knowledge of the powers that are lying dormant within his own soul,
+than to bring him into the conscious, vital realization of his oneness
+with the Infinite Life and Power, so that he may open himself to it in
+order that it may work and manifest through him.
+
+We will find that these same great truths lie at the very bottom of the
+solution of our social situation; and we will also find that we will
+never have a full and permanent solution of it until they are fully
+recognized and built upon.
+
+
+
+
+WISDOM AND INTERIOR ILLUMINATION.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Wisdom, and in the degree that we open
+ourselves to it does the highest wisdom manifest itself to and through
+us. We can in this way go to the very heart of the universe itself and
+find the mysteries hidden to the majority of mankind,--hidden to them,
+though not hidden of themselves.
+
+In order for the highest wisdom and insight we must have absolute
+confidence in the Divine guiding us, but not through the channel of some
+one else. And why should we go to another for knowledge and wisdom?
+With God is no respect of persons. Why should we seek these things
+second hand? Why should we thus stultify our own innate powers? Why
+should we not go direct to the Infinite Source itself? "If any man lack
+wisdom let him ask of God." "Before they call I will answer, and while
+they are yet speaking, I will hear."
+
+When we thus go directly to the Infinite Source itself we are no longer
+slaves to personalities, institutions, or books. We should always keep
+ourselves open to suggestions of truth from these agencies. We should
+always regard them as agencies, however, and never as sources. We should
+never recognize them as masters, but simply as teachers. With Browning,
+we must recognize the great fact that--
+
+ "Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
+ From outward things, whate'er you may believe.
+ There is an inmost centre in us all,
+ Where truth abides in fullness."
+
+
+There is no more important injunction in all the world, nor one with a
+deeper interior meaning, than "To thine own self be true." In other
+words, be true to your own soul, for it is through your own soul that the
+voice of God speaks to you. This is the interior guide. This is the
+light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This is
+conscience. This is intuition. This is the voice of the higher self,
+the voice of the soul, the voice of God. "Thou shalt hear a voice behind
+thee, saying: This is the way, walk ye in it."
+
+When Moses was on the mountain it was after the various physical
+commotions and manifestations that he heard the "still, small voice," the
+voice of his own soul, through which the Infinite God was speaking. If
+we will but follow this voice of intuition, it will speak ever more
+clearly and more plainly, until by and by it will be absolute and
+unerring in its guidance. The great trouble with us is that we do not
+listen to and do not follow this voice within our own souls, and so we
+become as a house divided against itself. We are pulled this way and
+that, and we are never _certain_ of anything. I have a friend who
+listens so carefully to this inner voice, who, in other words, always
+acts so quickly and so fully in accordance with his intuitions, and whose
+life as a consequence is so absolutely guided by them, that he always
+does the right thing at the right time and in the right way. He always
+knows when to act and how to act, and he is never in the condition of a
+house divided against itself.
+
+But some one says, "May it not be dangerous for us to act always upon our
+intuitions? Suppose we should have an intuition to do harm to some one?"
+We need not be afraid of this, however, for the voice of the soul, this
+voice of God speaking through the soul, will never direct one to do harm
+to another, nor to do anything that is not in accordance with the highest
+standards of right, and truth, and justice. And if you at any time have
+a prompting of this kind, know that it is not the voice of intuition; it
+is some characteristic of your lower self that is prompting you.
+
+Reason is not to be set aside, but it is to be continually illumined by
+this higher spiritual perception, and in the degree that it is thus
+illumined will it become an agent of light and power. When one becomes
+thoroughly individualized he enters into the realm of all knowledge and
+wisdom; and to be individualized is to recognize no power outside of the
+Infinite Power that is back of all. When one recognizes this great fact
+and opens himself to this Spirit of Infinite Wisdom, he then enters upon
+the road to the true education, and mysteries that before were closed now
+reveal themselves to him. This must indeed be the foundation of all true
+education, this evolving from within, this evolving of what has been
+involved by the Infinite Power.
+
+All things that it is valuable for us to know will come to us if we will
+but open ourselves to the voice of this Infinite Spirit. It is thus that
+we become seers and have the power of seeing into the very heart of
+things. There are no new stars, there are no new laws or forces, but we
+can so open ourselves to this Spirit of Infinite Wisdom that we can
+discover and recognize those that have not been known before; and in this
+way they become new to us. When in this way we come into a knowledge of
+truth we no longer need facts that are continually changing. We can then
+enter into the quiet of our own interior selves. We can open the window
+and look out, and thus gather the facts as we choose. This is true
+wisdom. "Wisdom is the knowledge of God." Wisdom comes by intuition.
+It far transcends knowledge. Great knowledge, knowledge of many things,
+may be had by virtue simply of a very retentive memory. It comes by
+tuition. But wisdom far transcends knowledge, in that knowledge is a
+mere incident of this deeper wisdom.
+
+He who would enter into the realm of wisdom must first divest himself of
+all intellectual pride. He must become as a little child. Prejudices,
+preconceived opinions and beliefs always stand in the way of true wisdom.
+Conceited opinions are always suicidal in their influences. They bar the
+door to the entrance of truth.
+
+All about us we see men in the religious world, in the world of science,
+in the political, in the social world, who through intellectual pride are
+so wrapped in their own conceits and prejudices that larger and later
+revelations of truth can find no entrance to them; and instead of growing
+and expanding, they are becoming dwarfed and stunted, and still more
+incapable of receiving truth. Instead of actively aiding in the progress
+of the world, they are as so many dead sticks in the way that would
+retard the wheels of progress. This, however, they can never do. Such
+always in time get bruised, broken, and left behind, while God's
+triumphal car of truth moves steadily onward.
+
+When the steam engine was still being experimented with, and before it
+was perfected sufficiently to come into practical use, a well-known
+Englishman--well known then in scientific circles--wrote an extended
+pamphlet proving that it would be impossible for it ever to be used in
+ocean navigation, that is, in a trip involving the crossing of the ocean,
+because it would be utterly impossible for any vessel to carry with it
+sufficient coal for the use of its furnace. And the interesting feature
+of the whole matter was that the very first steam vessel that made the
+trip from England to America, had among its cargo a part of the first
+edition of this carefully prepared pamphlet. There was only the one
+edition. Many editions might be sold now.
+
+This seems indeed an amusing fact; but far more amusing is the man who
+voluntarily closes himself to truth because, forsooth, it does not come
+through conventional, or orthodox, or heretofore accepted channels; or
+because it may not be in full accord with, or possibly may be opposed to,
+established usages or beliefs. On the contrary--
+
+ "Let there be many windows in your soul,
+ That all the glory of the universe
+ May beautify it. Not the narrow pane
+ Of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays
+ That shine from countless sources. Tear away
+ The blinds of superstition: let the light
+ Pour through fair windows, broad as truth itself
+ And high as heaven. . . . Tune your ear
+ To all the worldless music of the stars
+ And to the voice of nature, and your heart
+ Shall turn to truth and goodness as the plant
+ Turns to the sun. A thousand unseen hands
+ Reach down to help you to their peace-crowned heights,
+ And all the forces of the firmament
+ Shall fortify your strength. Be not afraid
+ To thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole."
+
+
+There is a great law in connection with the coming of truth. It is this:
+Whenever a man or a woman shuts himself or herself to the entrance of
+truth on account of intellectual pride, preconceived opinions,
+prejudices, or for whatever reason, there is a great law which says that
+truth _in its fullness_ will come to that one from no source. And on the
+other hand, when a man or a woman opens himself or herself fully to the
+entrance of truth from _whatever_ source it may come, there is an equally
+great law which says that truth will flow in to him or to her from all
+sources, from all quarters. Such becomes the free man, the free woman,
+for it is the truth that makes us free. The other remains in bondage,
+for truth has had no invitation and will not enter where it is not fully
+and freely welcomed.
+
+And where truth is denied entrance the rich blessings it carries with it
+cannot take up their abode. On the contrary, when this is the case, it
+sends an envoy carrying with it atrophy, disease, death, physically and
+spiritually as well as intellectually. And the man who would rob another
+of his free and unfettered search for truth, who would stand as the
+interpreter of truth for another, with the intent of remaining in this
+position, rather than endeavoring to lead him to the place where he can
+be his own interpreter, is more to be shunned than a thief and a robber.
+The injury he works is far greater, for he is doing direct and positive
+injury to the very life of the one he thus holds.
+
+Who has ever appointed any man, whoever he may be, as the keeper, the
+custodian, the dispenser of God's illimitable truth? Many indeed are
+moved and so are called to be teachers of truth; but the true teacher
+will never stand as the interpreter of truth for another. The _true
+teacher_ is the one whose endeavor is to bring the one he teaches to a
+true knowledge of himself and hence of his own interior powers, that he
+may become his own interpreter. All others are, generally speaking,
+those animated by purely personal motives, self-aggrandizement, or
+personal gain. Moreover, he who would claim to have all truth and the
+only truth, is a bigot, a fool, or a knave.
+
+In the Eastern literature is a fable of a frog. The frog lived in a
+well, and out of his little well he had never been. One day a frog whose
+home was in the sea came to his well. Interested in all things, he went
+in. "Who are you? Where do you live?" said the frog in the well. "I am
+so and so, and my home is in the sea." "The sea? What is that? Where
+is that?" "It is a very large body of water, and not far away." "How
+big is your sea?" "Oh, very big." "As big as this?" pointing to a
+little stone lying near. "Oh, much bigger." "As big as this?" pointing
+to the board upon which they were sitting. "Oh, much bigger." "How much
+bigger, then?" "Why, the sea in which I live is bigger than your entire
+well; it would make millions of wells such as yours." "Nonsense,
+nonsense; you are a deceiver and a falsifier. Get out of my well. Get
+out of my well. I want nothing to do with any such frogs as you."
+
+"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," is the
+promise. Ye shall close yourselves to truth, ye shall live in your own
+conceits, and your own conceits shall make fools and idiots of you, would
+be a statement applicable to not a few, and to not a few who pride
+themselves upon their superior intellectual attainments. Idiocy is
+arrested mental growth. Closing one's self for whatever reason to truth
+and hence to growth, brings a certain type of idiocy, though it may not
+be called by this name. And on the other hand, another type is that
+arrested growth caused by taking all things for granted, without proving
+them for one's self, merely because they come from a particular person, a
+particular book, a particular institution. This is caused by one's
+always looking without instead of being true to the light within, and
+carefully tending it that it may give an ever-clearer light.
+
+With brave and intrepid Walt Whitman, we should all be able to say--
+
+ "From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits
+ and imaginary lines,
+ Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
+ Listening to others, considering well what they say,
+ Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
+ Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the
+ holds that would hold me."
+
+
+Great should be the joy that God's boundless truth is open to all, open
+_equally_ to all, and that it will make each one its dwelling place in
+proportion as he earnestly desires it and opens himself to it.
+
+And in regard to the wisdom that guides us in our daily life, there is
+nothing that it is right and well for us to know that may not be known
+when we recognize the law of its coming, and are able wisely to use it.
+Let us know that all things are ours as soon as we know how to
+appropriate them.
+
+ "I hold it as a changeless law,
+ From which no soul can sway or swerve,
+ We have that in us which will draw
+ Whate'er we need or most deserve."
+
+
+If the times come when we know not what course to pursue, when we know
+not which way to turn, the fault lies in ourselves. If the fault lies in
+ourselves then the correction of this unnatural condition lies also in
+ourselves. It is never necessary to come into such a state if we are
+awake and remain awake to the light and the powers within us. The light
+is ever shining, and the only thing that it is necessary for us
+diligently to see to is that we permit neither this thing nor that to
+come between us and the light. "With Thee is the fountain of life; in
+Thy light shall we see light."
+
+Let us hear the words of one of the most highly illumined men I have ever
+known, and one who as a consequence is never in the dark, when the time
+comes, as to what to do and how to do it. "Whenever you are in doubt as
+to the course you should pursue, after you have turned to every outward
+means of guidance, _let the inward eye see, let the inward ear hear_, and
+allow this simple, natural, beautiful process to go on unimpeded by
+questionings or doubts. . . . In all dark hours and times of unwonted
+perplexity we need to follow one simple direction, found, as all needed
+directions can be found, in the dear old gospel, which so many read, but
+alas, _so few interpret_. 'Enter into thine inner chamber and shut the
+door.' Does this mean that we must literally betake ourselves to a
+private closet with a key in the door? If it did, then the command could
+never be obeyed in the open air, on land or sea, and the Christ loved the
+lakes and the forests far better than the cramping rooms of city dwelling
+houses; still his counsels are so wide-reaching that there is no spot on
+earth and no conceivable situation in which any of us may be placed where
+we cannot follow them.
+
+"One of the most intuitive men we ever met had a desk in a city office
+where several other gentlemen were doing business constantly and often
+talking loudly. Entirely undisturbed by the many various sounds about
+him, this self-centred, faithful man would, in any moment of perplexity,
+draw the curtains of privacy so completely about him that he would be as
+fully enclosed in his own psychic aura, and thereby as effectually
+removed from all distractions as though he were alone in some primeval
+wood. Taking his difficulty with him into the mystic silence in the form
+of a direct question, to which he expected a certain answer, he would
+remain utterly passive until the reply came, and never once through many
+years' experience did he find himself disappointed or misled. Intuitive
+perceptions of truth are the daily bread to satisfy our daily hunger;
+they come like the manna in the desert day by day; each day brings
+adequate supply for that day's need only. They must be followed
+instantly, for dalliance with them means their obscuration, and the more
+we dally the more we invite erroneous impressions to cover intuition with
+a pall of conflicting moral phantasy born of illusions of the terrence
+will.
+
+"One condition is imposed by _universal law_, and this we must obey. Put
+all wishes aside save the one desire to know _truth_; couple with this
+one demand the fully consecrated determination to follow what is
+distinctly perceived as truth immediately it is revealed. No other
+affection must be permitted to share the field with this all-absorbing
+love of _truth_ for its own sake. Obey this one direction and never
+forget that expectation and desire are bride and bridegroom and forever
+inseparable, and you will soon find your hitherto darkened way grow
+luminous with celestial radiance, for with the heaven within, all heavens
+without incessantly co-operate." This may be termed going into the
+"silence." This it is to perceive and to be guided by the light that
+lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This it is to listen to
+and be guided by the voice of your own soul, the voice of your higher
+self.
+
+The soul is divine and in allowing it to become translucent to the
+Infinite Spirit it reveals all things to us. As man turns away from the
+Divine Light do all things become hidden. There is nothing hidden of
+itself. When the spiritual sense is opened, then it transcends all the
+limitations of the physical senses and the intellect. And in the degree
+that we are able to get away from the limitations set by them, and
+realize that so far as the real life is concerned it is one with the
+Infinite Life, then we begin to reach the place where this voice will
+always speak, where it will never fail us, if we follow it, and as a
+consequence where we will always have the divine illumination and
+guidance. To know this and to live in this realization is not to live in
+heaven hereafter, but to live in heaven here and now, _today and every
+day_.
+
+No human soul need be without it. When we turn our face in the right
+direction it comes as simply and as naturally as the flower blooms and
+the winds blow. It is not to be bought with money or with price. It is
+a condition waiting simply to be realized, by rich and by poor, by king
+and by peasant, by master and by servant the world over. All are equal
+heirs to it. And so the peasant, if he find it first, lives a life far
+transcending in beauty and in real power the life of his king. The
+servant, if he find it first, lives a life surpassing the life of his
+master.
+
+
+If you would find the highest, the fullest, and the richest life that not
+only this world but that any world can know, then do away with the sense
+of the separateness of your life from the life of God. Hold to the
+thought of your oneness. In the degree that you do this you will find
+yourself realizing it more and more, and as this life of realization is
+lived, you will find that no good thing will be withheld, for all things
+are included in this. Then it will be yours, without fears or
+forebodings, simply to do today what your hands find to do, and so be
+ready for tomorrow, _when it comes_, knowing that tomorrow will bring
+tomorrow's supplies for the mental, the spiritual, and the physical life.
+Remember, however, that tomorrow's supplies are not needed until tomorrow
+comes.
+
+If one is willing to trust himself _fully_ to the Law, the Law will never
+fail him. It is the half-hearted trusting to it that brings uncertain,
+and so, unsatisfactory results. Nothing is firmer and surer than Deity.
+It will never fail the one who throws himself wholly upon it. The secret
+of life then, is to live continually in this realization, whatever one
+may be doing, wherever one may be, by day and by night, both waking and
+sleeping. It can be lived in while we are sleeping no less than when we
+are awake. And here shall we consider a few facts in connection with
+sleep, in connection with receiving instruction and illumination while
+asleep?
+
+During the process of sleep it is merely the physical body that is at
+rest and in quiet; the soul life with all its activities goes right on.
+Sleep is nature's provision for the recuperation of the body, for the
+rebuilding and hence the replacing of the waste that is continually going
+on during the waking hours. It is nature's great restorer. If
+sufficient sleep is not allowed the body, so that the rebuilding may
+equalize the wasting process, the body is gradually depleted and
+weakened, and any ailment or malady, when it is in this condition, is
+able to find a more ready entrance. It is for this reason that those who
+are subject to it will take a cold, as we term it, more readily when the
+body is tired or exhausted through loss of sleep than at most any other
+time. The body is in that condition where outside influences can have a
+more ready effect upon it, than when it is in its normal condition. And
+when they do have an effect they always go to the weaker portions first.
+
+Our bodies are given us to serve far higher purposes than we ordinarily
+use them for. Especially is this true in the numerous cases where the
+body is master of its owner. In the degree that we come into the
+realization of the higher powers of the mind and spirit, in that degree
+does the body, through their influence upon it, become less gross and
+heavy, finer in its texture and form. And then, because the mind finds a
+kingdom of enjoyment in itself, and in all the higher things it becomes
+related to, _excesses_ in eating and drinking, as well as all others,
+naturally and of their own accord fall away. There also falls away the
+desire for the heavier, grosser, less valuable kinds of food and drink,
+such as the flesh of animals, alcoholic drinks, and all things of the
+class that stimulate the body and the passions rather than build the body
+and the brain into a strong, clean, well-nourished, enduring, and fibrous
+condition. In the degree that the body thus becomes less gross and
+heavy, finer in its texture and form, is there less waste, and what there
+is is more easily replaced, so that it keeps in a more regular and even
+condition. When this is true, less sleep is actually required. And even
+the amount that is taken does more for a body of this finer type than it
+can do for one of the other nature.
+
+As the body in this way grows finer, in other words, as the process of
+its evolution is thus accelerated, it in turn helps the mind and the soul
+in the realization of ever higher perceptions, and thus body helps mind
+the same as mind builds body. It was undoubtedly this fact that Browning
+had in mind when he said:
+
+ "Let us cry 'All good things
+ Are ours, nor soul helps flesh, more now,
+ Than flesh helps soul.'"
+
+Sleep, then, is for the resting and the rebuilding of the body. The soul
+needs no rest, and while the body is at rest in sleep the soul life is
+active the same as when the body is in activity.
+
+There are some, having a deep insight into the soul's activities, who say
+that we travel when we sleep. Some are able to recall and bring over
+into the conscious, waking life the scenes visited, the information
+gained, and the events that have transpired. Most people are not able to
+do this and so much that might otherwise be gained is lost. They say,
+however, that it is in our power, in proportion as we understand the
+laws, to go where we will, and to bring over into the conscious, waking
+life all the experiences thus gained. Be this, however, as it may, it
+certainly is true that while sleeping we have the power, in a perfectly
+normal and natural way, to get much of value by way of light,
+instruction, and growth that the majority of people now miss.
+
+If the soul life, that which relates us to Infinite Spirit, is always
+active, even while the body is at rest, why may not the mind so direct
+conditions as one falls asleep, that while the body is at rest, it may
+continually receive illumination from the soul and bring what it thus
+receives over into the conscious, waking life? This, indeed, can be
+done, and is done by some to great advantage; and many times the highest
+inspirations from the soul come in this way, as would seem most natural,
+since at this time all communications from the outer, material world no
+longer enter. I know those who do much work during sleep, the same as
+they get much light along desired lines. By charging the mind on going
+to sleep as to a particular time for waking, it is possible, as many of
+us know, to wake on the very minute. Not infrequently we have examples
+of difficult problems, problems that defied solution during waking hours,
+being solved during sleep.
+
+A friend, a well-known journalist, had an extended newspaper article
+clearly and completely worked out for her in this way. She frequently
+calls this agency to her aid. She was notified by the managing editor
+one evening to have the article ready in the morning,--an article
+requiring more than ordinary care, and one in which quite a knowledge of
+facts was required. It was a matter in connection with which she knew
+scarcely anything, and all her efforts at finding information regarding
+it seemed to be of no avail.
+
+She set to work, but it seemed as if even her own powers defied her.
+Failure seemed imminent. Almost in desperation she decided to retire,
+and putting the matter into her mind in such a way that she would be able
+to receive the greatest amount of aid while asleep, she fell asleep and
+slept soundly until morning. When she awoke her work of the previous
+evening was the first thing that came into her mind. She lay quietly for
+a few minutes, and as she lay there, the article, completely written,
+seemed to stand before her mind. She ran through it, arose, and without
+dressing took her pen and transcribed it on to paper, literally acting
+simply as her own amanuensis.
+
+The mind acting intently along a particular line will continue so to act
+until some other object of thought carries it along another line. And
+since in sleep only the body is in quiet while the mind and soul are
+active, then the mind on being given a certain direction when one drops
+off to sleep, will take up the line along which it is directed, and can
+be made, in time, to bring over into consciousness the results of its
+activities. Some will be able very soon to get results of this kind; for
+some it will take longer. Quiet and continued effort will increase the
+faculty.
+
+Then by virtue of the law of the drawing power of mind, since the mind is
+always active, we are drawing to us even while sleeping, influences from
+the realms kindred to those in which we in our thoughts are living before
+we fall asleep. In this way we can put ourselves into relation with what
+ever kinds of influence we choose and accordingly gain much during the
+process of sleep. In many ways the interior faculties are more open and
+receptive while we are in sleep than while we are awake. Hence the
+necessity of exercising even greater care as to the nature of the
+thoughts that occupy the mind as we enter into sleep, for there can come
+to us only what we by our own order of thought attract. We have it
+entirely in our own hands.
+
+And for the same reason,--this greater degree of receptivity during this
+period,--we are able by understanding and using the law, to gain much of
+value more readily in this way than when the physical senses are fully
+open to the material world about us. Many will find a practice somewhat
+after the following nature of value: When light or information is desired
+along any particular line, light or information you feel it is right and
+wise for you to have, as, for example, light in regard to an uncertain
+course of action, then as you retire, first bring your mind into the
+attitude of peace and good-will for all. You in this way bring yourself
+into an harmonious condition, and in turn attract to yourself these same
+peaceful conditions from without.
+
+Then resting in this sense of peace, quietly and calmly send out your
+earnest desire for the needed light or information; cast out of your mind
+all fears or forebodings lest it come not, for "in quietness and in
+confidence shall be your strength." Take the expectant attitude of mind,
+firmly believing and expecting that when you awake the desired results
+will be with you. Then on awaking, before any thoughts or activities
+from the outside world come in to absorb the attention, remain for a
+little while receptive to the intuitions or the impressions that come.
+When they come, when they manifest themselves clearly, then act upon them
+without delay. In the degree that you do this, in that degree will the
+power of doing it ever more effectively grow.
+
+Or, if for unselfish purposes you desire to grow and develop any of your
+faculties, or to increase the health and strength of your body, take a
+corresponding attitude of mind, the form of which will readily suggest
+itself in accordance with your particular needs or desires. In this way
+you will open yourself to, you will connect yourself with, and you will
+set into operation within yourself, the particular order of forces that
+will make for these results. Don't be afraid to voice your desires. In
+this way you set into operation vibratory forces which go out and which
+make their impress felt somewhere, and which, arousing into activity or
+uniting with other forces, set about to actualize your desires. No good
+thing shall be withheld from him who lives in harmony with the higher
+laws and forces. There are no desires that shall not be satisfied to the
+one who knows and who wisely uses the powers with which he or she is
+endowed.
+
+Your sleep will be more quiet, and peaceful, and refreshing, and so your
+power increased mentally, physically, and spiritually, simply by sending
+out as you fall asleep, thoughts of love and good-will, thoughts of peace
+and harmony for all. In this way you are connecting yourself with all
+the forces in the universe that make for peace and harmony.
+
+A friend who is known the world over through his work along humane lines,
+has told me that many times in the middle of the night he is awakened
+suddenly and there comes to his mind, as a flash of inspiration, a
+certain plan in connection with his work. And as he lays there quietly
+and opens himself to it, the methods for its successful carrying out all
+reveal themselves to him clearly. In this way many plans are entered
+upon and brought to a successful culmination that otherwise would never
+be thought of, plans that seem, indeed, marvelous to the world at large.
+He is a man with a sensitive organism, his life in thorough harmony with
+the higher laws, and given wholly and unreservedly to the work to which
+he has dedicated it. Just how and from what source these inspirations
+come he does not fully know. Possibly no one does, though each may have
+his theory. But this we do know, and it is all we need to know now, at
+least,--that to the one who lives in harmony with the higher laws of his
+being, and who opens himself to them, they come.
+
+Visions and inspirations of the highest order will come in the degree
+that we make for them the right conditions. One who has studied deeply
+into the subject in hand has said: "To receive education spiritually
+while the body is resting in sleep is a perfectly normal and orderly
+experience, and would occur definitely and satisfactorily in the lives of
+all of us, if we paid more attention to internal and consequently less to
+external states with their supposed but unreal necessities. . . . Our
+thoughts make us what we are here and hereafter, and our thoughts are
+often busier by night than by day, for when we are asleep to the exterior
+we can be wide awake to the interior world; and the unseen world is a
+substantial place, the conditions of which are entirely regulated by
+mental and moral attainments. When we are not deriving information
+through outward avenues of sensation, we are receiving instruction
+through interior channels of perception, and when this fact is understood
+for what it is worth, it will become a universal custom for persons to
+take to sleep with them the special subject on which they most earnestly
+desire particular instruction. The Pharaoh type of person dreams, and so
+does his butler and baker; but the Joseph type, which is that of the
+truly gifted seer, both dreams and interprets."
+
+But why had not Pharaoh the power of interpreting his dreams? Why was
+Joseph the type of the "truly gifted seer?" Why did he not only dream,
+but had also the power to interpret both his own dreams and the dreams of
+others? Simply read the lives of the two. He who runs may read. In all
+true power it is, after all, living the life that tells. And in
+proportion as one lives the life does he not only attain to the highest
+power and joy for himself, but he also becomes of ever greater service to
+all the world. One need remain in no hell longer than he himself chooses
+to; and the moment he chooses not to remain longer, not all the powers in
+the universe can prevent his leaving it. One can rise to any heaven he
+himself chooses; and when he chooses so to rise, all the higher powers of
+the universe combine to help him heavenward.
+
+When one awakes from sleep and so returns to conscious life, he is in a
+peculiarly receptive and impressionable state. All relations with the
+material world have for a time been shut off, the mind is in a freer and
+more natural state, resembling somewhat a sensitive plate, where
+impressions can readily leave their traces. This is why many times the
+highest and truest impressions come to one in the early morning hours,
+before the activities of the day and their attendant distractions have
+exerted an influence. This is one reason why many people can do their
+best work in the early hours of the day.
+
+But this fact is also a most valuable one in connection with the moulding
+of every-day life. The mind is at this time as a clean sheet of paper.
+We can most valuably use this quiet, receptive, impressionable period by
+wisely directing the activities of the mind along the highest and most
+desirable paths, and thus, so to speak, set the pace for the day.
+
+Each morning is a fresh beginning. We are, as it were, just beginning
+life. We have it _entirely_ in our own hands. And when the morning with
+its fresh beginning comes, all yesterdays should be yesterdays, with
+which we have nothing to do. Sufficient is it to know that the way we
+lived our yesterday has determined for us our today. And, again, when
+the morning with its fresh beginning comes, all tomorrows should be
+tomorrows, with which we have nothing to do. Sufficient to know that the
+way we live our today determines our tomorrow.
+
+ "Every day is a fresh beginning,
+ Every morn is the world made new;
+ You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
+ Here is a beautiful hope for you,
+ A hope for me and a hope for you.
+
+ "All the past things are past and over,
+ The tasks are done, and the tears are shed.
+ Yesterday's errors let yesterday cover;
+ Yesterday's wounds, which smarted and bled,
+ Are healed with the healing which might has shed.
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+ "Let them go, since we cannot relieve them,
+ Cannot undo and cannot atone.
+ God in His mercy receive, forgive them!
+ Only the new days are our own.
+ Today is ours, and today alone.
+
+ "Here are the skies all burnished brightly;
+ Here is the spent earth all reborn;
+ Here are the tired limbs springing lightly
+ To face the sun and to share with the morn
+ In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn.
+
+ "Every day is a fresh beginning,
+ Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,
+ And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
+ And puzzles forecasted, and possible pain,
+ Take heart with the day and begin again."
+
+
+Simply the first hour of this new day, with all its richness and glory,
+with all its sublime and eternity-determining possibilities, and each
+succeeding hour as it comes, but _not before_ it comes. This is the
+secret of character building. This simple method will bring any one to
+the realization of the highest life that can be even conceived of, and
+there is nothing in this connection that can be conceived of that cannot
+be realized somehow, somewhen, somewhere.
+
+This brings such a life within the possibilities of _all_, for there is
+_no one_, if really in earnest and if he really desires it, who cannot
+live to his highest for a single hour. But even though there should be,
+if he is _only earnest in his endeavor_, then, through the law that like
+builds like, he will be able to come a little nearer to it the next hour,
+and still nearer the next, and the next, until sooner or later comes the
+time when it becomes the natural, and any other would require the effort.
+
+In this way one becomes in love and in league with the highest and best
+in the universe, and as a consequence, the highest and best in the
+universe becomes in love and in league with him. They aid him at every
+turn; they seem literally to move all things his way, because forsooth,
+he has first moved their way.
+
+
+
+
+THE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Peace, and the moment we come into
+harmony with it there comes to us an inflowing tide of peace, for peace
+is harmony. A deep interior meaning underlies the great truth, "To be
+spiritually minded is life and peace." To recognize the fact that we
+are spirit, and to live in this thought, is to be spiritually minded,
+and so to be in harmony and peace. Oh, the thousands of men and women
+all about us weary with care, troubled and ill at ease, running hither
+and thither to find peace, weary in body, soul, and mind; going to
+other countries, traveling the world over, coming back, and still not
+finding it. Of course they have not found it and they never will find
+it in this way, because they are looking for it where it is not. They
+are looking for it without when they should look within. Peace is to
+be found only within, and unless one find it there he will never find
+it at all.
+
+Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one's own soul.
+We may travel over many different avenues in pursuit of it, we may seek
+it through the channels of the bodily appetites and passions, we may
+seek it through all the channels of the external, we may chase for it
+hither and thither, but it will always be just beyond our grasp,
+because we are searching for it where it is not. In the degree,
+however, that we order the bodily appetites and passions in accordance
+with the promptings of the soul within will the higher forms of
+happiness and peace enter our lives; but in the degree that we fail in
+doing this will disease, suffering, and discontent enter in.
+
+To be at one with God is to be at peace. The child simplicity is the
+greatest agency in bringing this full and complete realization, the
+child simplicity that recognizes its true relations with the Father's
+life. There are people I know who have come into such a conscious
+realization of their oneness with this Infinite Life, this Spirit of
+Infinite Peace, that their lives are fairly bubbling over with joy. I
+have particularly in mind at this moment a comparatively young man who
+was an invalid for several years, his health completely broken with
+nervous exhaustion, who thought there was nothing in life worth living
+for, to whom everything and everybody presented a gloomy aspect, and he
+in turn presented a gloomy aspect to all with whom he came in contact.
+Not long ago he came into such a vital realization of his oneness with
+this Infinite Power, he opened himself so completely to its divine
+inflow, that today he is in perfect health, and frequently as I meet
+him now he cannot resist the impulse to cry out, "Oh, it is a joy to be
+alive."
+
+I know an officer on our police force who has told me that many times
+when off duty and on his way home in the evening, there comes to him
+such a vivid and vital realization of his oneness with this Infinite
+Power, and this Spirit of Infinite Peace so takes hold of and so fills
+him, that it seems as if his feet could scarcely keep to the pavement,
+so buoyant and so exhilarated does he become by reason of this
+inflowing tide.
+
+He who comes into this higher realization never has any fear, for he
+has always with him a sense of protection, and the very realization of
+this makes his protection complete. Of him it is true,--"No weapon
+that is formed against thee shall prosper;" "There shall no ill come
+nigh thy dwelling;" "Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the
+field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee."
+
+These are the men and the women who seem to live charmed lives. The
+moment we fear anything we open the door for the entrance of the
+actualization of the very thing we fear. An animal will never harm a
+person who is absolutely fearless in regard to it. The instant he
+fears he opens himself to danger; and some animals, the dog for
+example, can instantly detect the element of fear, and this gives them
+the courage to do harm. In the degree that we come into a full
+realization of our oneness with this Infinite Power do we become calm
+and quiet, undisturbed by the little occurrences that before so vex and
+annoy us. We are no longer disappointed in people, for we always read
+them aright. We have the power of penetrating into their very souls
+and seeing the underlying motives that are at work there.
+
+A gentleman approached a friend the other day, and with great show of
+cordiality grasped him by the hand and said, "Why, Mr. ------, I am so
+glad to see you." Quick as a flash my friend read him, and looking him
+steadily in the eye, replied, "No, you are mistaken, you are not glad
+to see me; but you are very much disconcerted, so much so that you are
+now blushing in evidence of it." The gentleman replied, "Well, you
+know in this day and age of conventionality and form we have to put on
+the show and sometimes make believe what we do not really feel." My
+friend once more looked him in the face and said, "Again you are
+mistaken. Let me give you one little word of advice: You will always
+fare better and will think far more of yourself, always to recognize
+and to tell the truth rather than to give yourself to any semblance of
+it."
+
+As soon as we are able to read people aright we will then cease to be
+disappointed in them, we will cease to place them on pedestals, for
+this can never be done without some attendant disappointment. The fall
+will necessarily come, sooner or later, and moreover, we are thus many
+times unfair to our friends. When we come into harmony with this
+Spirit of Peace, evil reports and apparent bad treatment, either at the
+hands of friends or of enemies, will no longer disturb us. When we are
+conscious of the fact that in our life and our work we are true to that
+eternal principle of right, of truth, of justice that runs through all
+the universe, that unites and governs all, that always eventually
+prevails, then nothing of this kind can come nigh us, and come what may
+we will always be tranquil and undisturbed.
+
+The things that cause sorrow, and pain, and bereavement will not be
+able to take the hold of us they now take, for true wisdom will enable
+us to see the proper place and know the right relations of all things.
+The loss of friends by the transition we call death will not cause
+sorrow to the soul that has come into this higher realization, for he
+knows that there is no such thing as death, for each one is not only a
+partaker, but an eternal partaker, of this Infinite Life. He knows
+that the mere falling away of the physical body by no means affects the
+real soul life. With a tranquil spirit born of a higher faith he can
+realize for himself, and to those less strong he can say--
+
+ "Loving friends! be wise and dry
+ Straightway every weeping eye;
+ What you left upon the bier
+ Is not worth a single tear;
+ 'Tis a simple sea-shell, one
+ Out of which the pearl has gone.
+ The shell was nothing, leave it there;
+ The pearl--the soul--was all, is here."
+
+And so far as the element of separation is concerned, he realizes that
+to spirit there are no bounds, and that spiritual communion, whether
+between two persons in the body, or two persons, one in the body and
+one out of the body, is within the reach of all. In the degree that
+the higher spiritual life is realized can there be this higher
+spiritual communion.
+
+The things that we open ourselves to always come to us. People in the
+olden times expected to see angels and they saw them; but there is no
+more reason why they should have seen them than that we should see them
+now; no more reason why they should come and dwell with them than that
+they should come and dwell with us, for the great laws governing all
+things are the same today as they were then. If angels come not to
+minister unto us it is because we do not invite them, it is because we
+keep the door closed through which they otherwise might enter.
+
+In the degree that we are filled with this Spirit of Peace by thus
+opening ourselves to its inflow does it pour through us, so that we
+carry it with us wherever we go. In the degree that we thus open
+ourselves do we become magnets to attract peace from all sources; and
+in the degree that we attract and embody it in ourselves are we able to
+give it forth to others. We can in this way become such perfect
+embodiments of peace that wherever we go we are continually shedding
+benedictions. But a day or two ago I saw a woman grasp the hand of a
+man (his face showed the indwelling God), saying, "Oh, it does me so
+much good to see you. I have been in anxiety and almost in despair
+during the past few hours, but the very sight of you has rolled the
+burden entirely away." There are people all around us who are
+continually giving out blessings and comfort, persons whose mere
+presence seems to change sorrow into joy, fear into courage, despair
+into hope, weakness into power.
+
+It is the one who has come into the realization of his own true self
+who carries this power with him and who radiates it wherever he
+goes,--the one who, as we say, has found his centre. And in all the
+great universe there is but one centre,--the Infinite Power that is
+working in and through all. The one who then has found his centre is
+the one who has come into the realization of his oneness with this
+Infinite Power, the one who recognizes himself as a spiritual being,
+for God is spirit.
+
+Such is the man of power. Centred in the Infinite, he has thereby, so
+to speak, connected himself with, he has attached his belts to, the
+great power-house of the universe. He is constantly drawing power to
+himself from all sources. For, thus centred, knowing himself,
+conscious of his own power, the thoughts that go from his mind are
+thoughts of strength; and by virtue of the law that like attracts like,
+he by his thoughts is continually attracting to himself from all
+quarters the aid of all whose thoughts are thoughts of strength, and in
+this way he is linking himself with this order of thought in the
+universe.
+
+And so to him that hath, to him shall be given. This is simply the
+working of a natural law. His strong, positive, and hence constructive
+thought is continually working success for him along all lines, and
+continually bringing to him help from all directions. The things that
+he sees, that he creates in the ideal, are through the agency of this
+strong constructive thought continually clothing themselves, taking
+form, manifesting themselves in the material. Silent, unseen forces
+are at work which will sooner or later be made manifest in the visible.
+
+Fear and all thoughts of failure never suggest themselves to such a
+man; or if they do, they are immediately sent out of his mind, and so
+he is not influenced by this order of thought from without. He does
+not attract it to him. He is in another current of thought.
+Consequently the weakening, failure-bringing thoughts of the fearing,
+the vacillating, the pessimistic about him, have no influence upon him.
+The one who is of the negative, fearing kind not only has his energies
+and his physical agents weakened, or even paralyzed through the
+influence of this kind of thought that is born within him, but he also
+in this way connects himself with this order of thought in the world
+about him. And in the degree that he does this does he become a victim
+to the weak, fearing, negative minds all around him. Instead of
+growing in power, he increases in weakness. He is in the same order of
+thought with those of whom it is true,--and even that which they have
+shall be taken away from them. This again is simply the working of a
+natural law, the same as is its opposite. Fearing lest I lose even
+what I have I hide it away in a napkin. Very well. I must then pay
+the price of my "fearing lest I lose."
+
+Thoughts of strength both build strength from within and attract it
+from without. Thoughts of weakness actualize weakness from within and
+attract it from without. Courage begets strength, fear begets
+weakness. And so courage begets success, fear begets failure. It is
+the man or the woman of faith, and hence of courage, who is the master
+of circumstances, and who makes his or her power felt in the world. It
+is the man or the woman who lacks faith and who as a consequence is
+weakened and crippled by fears and forebodings, who is the creature of
+all passing occurrences.
+
+Within each one lies the cause of whatever comes to him. Each has it
+in his own hands to determine what comes. Everything in the visible,
+material world has its origin in the unseen, the spiritual, the thought
+world. This is the world of cause, the former is the world of effect.
+The nature of the effect is always in accordance with the nature of the
+cause. What one lives in his invisible, thought world, he is
+continually actualizing in his visible, material world. If he would
+have any conditions different in the latter he must make the necessary
+change in the former. A clear realization of this great fact would
+bring success to thousands of men and women who all about us are now in
+the depths of despair. It would bring health, abounding health and
+strength to thousands now diseased and suffering. It would bring peace
+and joy to thousands now unhappy and ill at ease.
+
+And oh, the thousands all about us who are continually living in the
+slavery of fear. The spirits within that should be strong and
+powerful, are rendered weak and impotent. Their energies are crippled,
+their efforts are paralyzed. "Fear is everywhere,--fear of want, fear
+of starvation, fear of public opinion, fear of private opinion, fear
+that what we own today may not be ours tomorrow, fear of sickness, fear
+of death. Fear has become with millions a fixed habit. The thought is
+everywhere. The thought is thrown upon us from every direction. . . .
+To live in continual dread, continual cringing, continual fear of
+anything, be it loss of love, loss of money, loss of position or
+situation, is to take the readiest means to lose what we fear we shall."
+
+By fear nothing is to be gained, but on the contrary, everything is to
+be lost. "I know this is true," says one, "but I am given to fear;
+it's natural to me and I can't help it." Can't help it! In saying
+this you indicate one great reason of your fear by showing that you do
+not even know yourself as yet. You must know yourself in order to know
+your powers, and not until you know them can you use them wisely and
+fully. Don't say you can't help it. If you think you can't, the
+chances are that you can't. If you think you can, and act in
+accordance with this thought, then not only are the chances that you
+can, but if you act fully in accordance with it, that you can and that
+you will is an absolute certainty. It was Virgil who in describing the
+crew which in his mind would win the race, said of them,--They can
+because they think they can. In other words, this very attitude of
+mind on their part will infuse a spiritual power into their bodies that
+will give them the strength and endurance which will enable them to win.
+
+Then take the thought that you _can_; take it merely as a seed-thought,
+if need be, plant it in your consciousness, tend it, cultivate it, and
+it will gradually reach out and gather strength from all quarters. It
+will focus and make positive and active the spiritual force within you
+that is now scattered and of little avail. It will draw to itself
+force from without. It will draw to your aid the influence of other
+minds of its own nature, minds that are fearless, strong, courageous.
+You will thus draw to yourself and connect yourself with this order of
+thought. If earnest and faithful, the time will soon come when all
+fear will loose its hold; and instead of being an embodiment of
+weakness and a creature of circumstances, you will find yourself a
+tower of strength and a master of circumstances.
+
+We need more faith in every-day life,--faith in the power that works
+for good, faith in the Infinite God, and hence faith in ourselves
+created in His image. And however things at times may seem to go,
+however dark at times appearances may be, the knowledge of the fact
+that "the Supreme Power has us in its charge as it has the suns and
+endless systems of worlds in space," will give us the supreme faith
+that all is well with us, the same as all is well with the world.
+"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."
+
+There is nothing firmer, and safer, and surer than Deity. Then, as we
+recognize the fact that we have it in our own hands to open ourselves
+ever more fully to this Infinite Power, and call upon it to manifest
+itself in and through us, we will find in ourselves an ever increasing
+sense of power. For in this way we are working in conjunction with it,
+and it in turn is working in conjunction with us. We are then led into
+the full realization of the fact that all things work together for good
+to those that love the good. Then the fears and forebodings that have
+dominated us in the past will be transmuted into faith, and faith when
+rightly understood and rightly used is a force before which nothing can
+stand.
+
+Materialism leads naturally to pessimism. And how could it do
+otherwise? A knowledge of the Spiritual Power working in and through
+us as well as in and through all things, a power that works for
+righteousness, leads to optimism. Pessimism leads to weakness.
+Optimism leads to power. The one who is centred in Deity is the one
+who not only outrides every storm, but who through the faith, and so,
+the conscious power that is in him, faces storm with the same calmness
+and serenity that he faces fair weather; for he knows well beforehand
+what the outcome will be. He knows that underneath are the everlasting
+arms. He it is who realizes the truth of the injunction, "Rest in the
+Lord, wait patiently for Him and He shall give thee thy heart's
+desire." All shall be given, simply given, to him who is ready to
+accept it. Can anything be clearer than this?
+
+In the degree, then, that we work in conjunction with the Supreme Power
+do we need the less to concern ourselves about results. To live in the
+full realization of this fact and all that attends it brings peace, a
+full, rich, abiding peace,--a peace that makes the present complete,
+and that, going on before, brings back the assurance that as our days,
+so shall our strength be. The one who is thus centred, even in the
+face of all the unrest and the turmoil about us, can realize and say--
+
+ * * * *
+
+ "I stay my haste, I make delays,
+ For what avails this eager pace?
+ I stand amid eternal ways,
+ And what is mine shall know my face.
+
+ "Asleep, awake, by night or day,
+ The friends I seek are seeking me;
+ No wind can drive my bark astray,
+ Nor change the tide of destiny.
+
+ * * * *
+
+ "The waters know their own, and draw
+ The brooks that spring in yonder height;
+ So flows the good with equal law
+ Unto the soul of pure delight
+
+ "The stars come nightly to the sky;
+ The tidal wave unto the sea;
+ Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
+ Can keep my own away from me."
+
+
+
+
+COMING INTO FULLNESS OF POWER.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Power, and in the degree that we open
+ourselves to it does power become manifest in us. With God all things
+are possible,--that is, in conjunction with God all things are
+possible. The true secret of power lies in keeping one's connection
+with the God who worketh all things; and in the degree that we keep
+this connection are we able literally to rise above every conceivable
+limitation.
+
+Why, then, waste time in running hither and thither to acquire power?
+Why waste time with this practice or that practice? Why not go
+directly to the mountain top itself, instead of wandering through the
+by-ways, in the valleys, and on the mountain sides? That man has
+absolute dominion, as taught in all the scriptures of the world, is
+true not of physical man, but of _spiritual man_. There are many
+animals, for example, larger and stronger, over which from a physical
+standpoint he would not have dominion, but he can gain supremacy over
+even these by calling into activity the higher mental, psychic, and
+spiritual forces with which he is endowed.
+
+Whatever can't be done in the physical can be done in the spiritual.
+And in direct proportion as a man recognizes himself as spirit, and
+lives accordingly, is he able to transcend in power the man who
+recognizes himself merely as material. All the sacred literature of
+the world is teeming with examples of what we call miracles. They are
+not confined to any particular times or places. There is no age of
+miracles in distinction from any other period that may be an age of
+miracles. Whatever has been done in the world's history can be done
+again through the operation of the same laws and forces. These
+miracles were performed not by those who were more than men, but by
+those who through the recognition of their oneness with God became
+God-men, so that the higher forces and powers worked through them.
+
+For what, let us ask, is a miracle? Is it something supernatural?
+Supernatural only in the sense of being above the natural, or rather,
+above that which is natural to man in his ordinary state. A miracle is
+nothing more nor less than this. One who has come into a knowledge of
+his true identity, of his oneness with the all-pervading Wisdom and
+Power, thus makes it possible for laws higher than the ordinary mind
+knows of to be revealed to him. These laws he makes use of; the people
+see the results, and by virtue of their own limitations, call them
+miracles and speak of the person who performs these apparently
+supernatural works as a supernatural being. But they as supernatural
+beings could themselves perform these supernatural works if they would
+open themselves to the recognition of the same laws, and consequently
+to the realization of the same possibilities and powers. And let us
+also remember that the supernatural of yesterday becomes, as in the
+process of evolution we advance from the lower to the higher, from the
+more material to the more spiritual, the common and the natural of
+today, and what seems to be the supernatural of today becomes in the
+same way the natural of tomorrow, and so on through the ages. Yes, it
+is the God-man who does the things that appear supernatural, the man
+who by virtue of his realization of the higher powers transcends the
+majority and so stands out among them. But any power that is possible
+to one human soul is possible to another. The same laws operate in
+every life. We can be men and women of power or we can be men and
+women of impotence. The moment one vitally grasps the fact that he can
+rise he will rise, and he can have absolutely no limitations other than
+the limitations he sets to himself. Cream always rises to the top. It
+rises simply because _it is the nature of cream to rise_.
+
+We hear much said of "environment." We need to realize that
+environment should never be allowed to make the man, but that man
+should always, _and always can_, condition the environment. When we
+realize this we will find that many times it is not necessary to take
+ourselves out of any particular environment, because we may yet have a
+work to do there; but by the very force we carry with us we can so
+affect and change matters that we will have an entirely new set of
+conditions in an old environment.
+
+The same is true in regard to "hereditary" traits and influences. We
+sometimes hear the question asked, "Can they be overcome?" Only the
+one who doesn't yet know himself can ask a question such as this. If
+we entertain and live in the belief that they cannot be overcome, then
+the chances are that they will always remain. The moment, however,
+that we come into a realization of our true selves, and so of the
+tremendous powers and forces within,--the powers and forces of the mind
+and spirit,--hereditary traits and influences that are harmful in
+nature will begin to lessen, and will disappear with a rapidity
+directly in proportion to the completeness of this realization.
+
+ "There is no thing we cannot overcome;
+ Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,
+ Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,
+ And calls down punishment that is not merited.
+
+ "Back of thy parents and grandparents lies
+ The Great Eternal Will! That too is thine
+ Inheritance,--strong, beautiful, divine,
+ Sure lever of success for one who tries.
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+ "There is no noble height thou canst not climb;
+ All triumphs may be thine in Time's futurity,
+ If, whatso'er thy fault, thou dost not faint or halt;
+ But lean upon the staff of God's security.
+
+ "Earth has no claim the soul cannot contest;
+ Know thyself part of the Eternal Source;
+ Naught can stand before thy spirit's force;
+ The soul's Divine Inheritance is best."
+
+Again there are many who are living far below their possibilities
+because they are continually handing over their individualities to
+others. Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself.
+Don't class yourself, don't allow yourself to be classed among the
+second-hand, among the _they-say_ people. Be true to the highest
+within your own soul, and then allow yourself to be governed by no
+customs or conventionalities or arbitrary man-made rules that are not
+founded upon _principle_. Those things that are founded upon principle
+will be observed by the right-minded, the right-hearted man or woman,
+in any case.
+
+Don't surrender your individuality, which is your greatest agent of
+power, to the customs and conventionalities that have gotten their life
+from the great mass of those who haven't enough force to preserve their
+individualities,--those who in other words have given them over as
+ingredients to the "mush of concession" which one of our greatest
+writers has said characterizes our modern society. If you do surrender
+your individuality in this way, you simply aid in increasing the
+undesirable conditions; in payment for this you become a slave, and the
+chances are that in time you will be unable to hold even the respect of
+those whom you in this way try to please.
+
+If you preserve your individuality then you become a master, and if
+wise and discreet, your influence and power will be an aid in bringing
+about a higher, a better, and a more healthy set of conditions in the
+world. All people, moreover, will think more of you, will honor you
+more highly for doing this than if you show your weakness by
+contributing yourself to the same "mush of concession" that so many of
+them are contributing themselves to. With all classes of people you
+will then have an influence. "A great style of hero draws equally all
+classes, all extremes of society to him, till we say the very dogs
+believe in him."
+
+To be one's self is the only worthy, and by all means the only
+satisfactory, thing to be. "May it not be good policy," says one, "to
+be governed sometimes by one's surroundings?" What is good policy? To
+be yourself, first, last, and always.
+
+ "This above all,--to thine own self be true;
+ And it must follow, as the night the day,
+ Thou canst not then be false to any man."
+
+
+"When we appeal to the Supreme and our life is governed by a principle,
+we are not governed either by fear of public opinion or loss of others'
+approbation, and we may be sure that the Supreme will sustain us. If
+in any way we try to live to suit others we never shall suit them, and
+the more we try the more unreasonable and exacting do they become. The
+government of your life is a matter that lies entirely between God and
+yourself, and when your life is swayed and influenced from any other
+source you are on the wrong path." When we find the kingdom within and
+become centred in the Infinite, then we become a law unto ourselves.
+When we become a law unto ourselves, then we are able to bring others
+to a knowledge of laws higher than they are governed or many times even
+enslaved by.
+
+When we have found this centre, then that beautiful simplicity, at once
+the charm and the power of a truly great personality, enters into our
+lives. Then all striving for effect,--that sure indicator of weakness
+and a lack of genuine power,--is absent. This striving for effect that
+is so common is always an indicator of a lack of something. It brings
+to mind the man who rides behind a dock-tailed horse. Conscious of the
+fact that there is not enough in _himself_ to attract attention, in
+common with a number of other weaklings, he adopts the brutal method of
+having his horse's tail sawed off, that its unnatural, odd appearance
+may attract from people the attention that he of himself is unable to
+secure.
+
+But the one who strives for effect is always fooled more than he
+succeeds in fooling others. The man and the woman of true wisdom and
+insight can always see the causes that prompt, the motives that
+underlie the acts of all with whom he or she comes in contact. "He is
+great who is what he is from nature and who never reminds us of others."
+
+The men and the women who are truly awake to the real powers within are
+the men and women who seem to be doing so little, yet who in reality
+are doing so much. They seem to be doing so little because they are
+working with higher agencies, and yet are doing so much because of this
+very fact. They do their work on the higher plane. They keep so
+completely their connection with the Infinite Power that _It_ does the
+work for them and they are relieved of the responsibility. They are
+the care-less people. They are care-less because it is the Infinite
+Power that is working through them, and with this Infinite Power they
+are simply co-operating.
+
+_The secret of the highest power is simply the uniting of the outer
+agencies of expression with the Power that works from within_. Are you
+a painter? Then in the degree that you open yourself to the power of
+the forces within will you become great instead of mediocre. You can
+never put into permanent form inspirations higher than those that come
+through your own soul. In order for the higher inspirations to come
+through it, you must open your soul, you must open it fully to the
+Supreme Source of all inspiration. Are you an orator? In the degree
+that you come into harmony and work in conjunction with the higher
+powers that will speak through you will you have the real power of
+moulding and of moving men. If you use merely your physical agents,
+you will be simply a demagogue. If you open yourself so that the voice
+of God can speak through and use your physical agents, you will become
+a great and true orator, great and true in just the degree that you so
+open yourself.
+
+Are you a singer? Then open yourself and let the God within pour forth
+in the spirit of song. You will find it a thousand times easier than
+all your long and studied practice without this, and other things being
+equal, there will come to you a power of song so enchanting and so
+enrapturing that its influence upon all who hear will be irresistible.
+
+When my cabin or tent has been pitched during the summer on the edge or
+in the midst of a forest, I have sometimes lain awake on my cot in the
+early morning, just as the day was beginning to break. Silence at
+first. Then an intermittent chirp here and there. And as the
+unfolding tints of the dawn became faintly perceptible, these grew more
+and more frequent, until by and by the whole forest seemed to burst
+forth in one grand chorus of song. Wonderful! wonderful! It seemed as
+if the very trees, as if every grass-blade, as if the bushes, the very
+sky above, and the earth beneath, had part in this wonderful symphony.
+Then, as I have listened as it went on and on, I have thought. What a
+study in the matter of song! If we could but learn from the birds. If
+we could but open ourselves to the same powers and allow them to pour
+forth in us, what singers, what movers of men we might have! Nay, what
+singers and what movers of men _we would have_!
+
+Do you know the circumstances under which Mr. Sankey sang for the first
+time "The Ninety and Nine?" Says one of our able journals: "At a great
+meeting recently in Denver, Mr. Ira W. Sankey, before singing 'The
+Ninety and Nine,' which, perhaps, of all his compositions is the one
+that has brought him the most fame, gave an account of its birth.
+Leaving Glasgow for Edinburg with Mr. Moody, he stopped at a news-stand
+and bought a penny religious paper. Glancing over it as they rode on
+the cars, his eye fell on a few little verses in the corner of the
+page. Turning to Mr. Moody he said, 'I've found my hymn.' But Mr.
+Moody was busily engaged and did not hear a word. Mr. Sankey did not
+find time to make a tune for the verses, so he pasted them in his music
+scrapbook.
+
+"One day they had an unusually impressive meeting in Edinburg, in which
+Dr. Bonar had spoken with great effect on 'The Good Shepherd.' At the
+close of the address Mr. Moody beckoned to his partner to sing. He
+thought of nothing but the Twenty-third Psalm, but that he had sung so
+often. His second thought was to sing the verses he had found in the
+newspaper, but the third thought was, how could it be done when he had
+no tune. Then a fourth thought came, and that was to sing them anyway.
+He put the verses before him, touched the keys of the organ, opened his
+mouth and sang, not knowing where he was going to come out. He
+finished the first verse amid profound silence. He took a long breath
+and wondered if he could sing the second the same way. He tried and
+succeeded; after that it was easy to sing it. When he finished the
+hymn the meeting was all broken down and the throngs were crying. Mr.
+Sankey says it was the most intense moment of his life. Mr. Moody said
+he never heard a song like it. It was sung at every meeting, and was
+soon going over the world."
+
+When we open ourselves to the highest inspirations they never fail us.
+When we fail to do this we fail in attaining the highest results,
+whatever the undertaking.
+
+Are you a writer? Then remember that the one great precept underlying
+all successful literary work is, _Look into thine own heart and write.
+Be true. Be fearless. Be loyal to the promptings of your own soul_.
+Remember that an author can never write more than he himself is. If he
+would write more, then he must be more. He is simply his own
+amanuensis. He in a sense writes himself into his book. He can put no
+more into it than he himself is.
+
+If he is one of a great personality, strong in purpose, deep in
+feeling, open always to the highest inspirations, a certain indefinable
+something gets into his pages that makes them breathe forth a vital,
+living power, a power so great that each reader gets the same
+inspirations as those that spoke through the author. That that's
+written between the lines is many times more than that that's written
+in the lines. It is the spirit of the author that engenders this
+power. It is this that gives that extra twenty-five or thirty per cent
+that takes a book out of the class called medium and lifts it into the
+class called superior,--that extra per cent that makes it the one of
+the hundred that is truly successful, while the ninety-nine never see
+more than their first edition.
+
+It is this same spiritual power that the author of a great personality
+puts into his work, that causes it to go so rapidly from reader to
+reader; for the only way that any book circulates in the ultimate is
+from mouth to mouth, any book that reaches a large circulation. It is
+this that many times causes a single reader, in view of its value to
+himself, to purchase numbers of copies for others. "A good poem," says
+Emerson, "goes about the world offering itself to reasonable men, who
+read it with joy and carry it to their reasonable neighbors. Thus it
+draws to it the _wise and generous souls_, confirming their secret
+thoughts, and through their sympathy _really publishing itself_."
+
+This is the type of author who writes not with the thought of having
+what he writes become literature, but he writes with the sole thought
+of reaching the hearts of the people, giving them something of vital
+value, something that will broaden, sweeten, enrich, and beautify their
+lives; that will lead them to the finding of the higher life and with
+it the higher powers and the higher joys. It most always happens,
+however, that if he succeeds in thus reaching the people, the becoming
+literature part somehow takes care of itself, and far better than if he
+aimed for it directly.
+
+The one, on the other hand, who fears to depart from beaten paths, who
+allows himself to be bound by arbitrary rules, limits his own creative
+powers in just the degree that he allows himself so to be bound. "My
+book," says one of the greatest of modern authors, "shall smell of the
+pines and resound with the hum of insects. The swallow over my window
+shall interweave that thread or straw he carries in his bill into my
+web also." Far better, gentle sage, to have it smell of the pines and
+resound with the hum of insects than to have it sound of the rules that
+a smaller type of man gets by studying the works of a few great,
+fearless writers like yourself, and formulating from what he thus gains
+a handbook of rhetoric. "Of no use are the men who study to do exactly
+as was done before, who can never understand that _today is a new day_."
+
+When Shakspeare is charged with debts to his authors, Landor replies:
+"Yet he was more original than his originals. He breathed upon dead
+bodies and brought them into life." This is the type of man who
+doesn't move the world's way, but who moves the world his way.
+
+I had rather be an amanuensis of the Infinite God, as it is my
+privilege literally to be, than a slave to the formulated rules of any
+rhetorician, or to the opinions of any critic. Oh, the people, the
+people over and over! Let me give something to them that will lighten
+the every-day struggles of our common life, something that will add a
+little sweetness here, a little hope there, something that will make
+more thoughtful, kind, and gentle this thoughtless, animal-natured man,
+something that will awaken into activity the dormant powers of this
+timid, shrinking little woman, powers that when awakened will be
+irresistible in their influence and that will surprise even herself.
+Let me give something that will lead each one to the knowledge of the
+divinity of every human soul, something that will lead each one to the
+conscious realization of _his own divinity_, with all its attendant
+riches, and glories, and powers,--let me succeed in doing this, and I
+can then well afford to be careless as to whether the critics praise or
+whether they blame. If it is blame, then under these circumstances it
+is as the cracking of a few dead sticks on the ground below, compared
+to the matchless music that the soft spring gale is breathing through
+the great pine forest.
+
+Are you a minister, or a religious teacher of any kind? Then in the
+degree that you free yourself from the man-made theological dogmas that
+have held and that are holding and limiting so many, and in the degree
+that you open yourself to the Divine Breath, will you be one who will
+speak with authority. In the degree that you do this will you study
+the prophets less and be in the way of becoming a prophet yourself.
+The way is open for you exactly the same as it has ever been open for
+anyone.
+
+If when born into the world you came into a family of the
+English-speaking race, then in all probability you are a Christian. To
+be a Christian is to be a follower of the _teachings_ of Jesus, the
+Christ; to live in harmony with the same laws he lived in harmony with:
+in brief, _to live his life_. The great central fact of his teaching
+was this conscious union of man with the Father. It was the complete
+realization of this oneness with the Father on his part that made Jesus
+the Christ. It was through this that he attained to the power he
+attained to, that he spake as never man spake.
+
+He never claimed for himself anything that he did not claim equally for
+all mankind. "The mighty works performed by Jesus were not
+exceptional, they were the natural and necessary concomitants of his
+state; he declared them to be in accordance with unvarying order; he
+spoke of them as no unique performances, but as the outcome of a state
+to which all might attain if they chose. As a teacher and demonstrator
+of truth, according to his own confession, he did nothing for the
+purpose of proving his solitary divinity. . . . The life and triumph
+of Jesus formed an epoch in the history of the race. His coming and
+victory marked a new era in human affairs; he introduced a new because
+a more complete ideal to the earth, and when his three most intimate
+companions saw in some measure what the new life really signified, they
+fell to the earth, speechless with awe and admiration."
+
+By coming into this complete realization of his oneness with the
+Father, by mastering, absolutely mastering every circumstance that
+crossed his path through life, even to the death of the body, and by
+pointing out to us the great laws which are the same for us as they
+were for him, he has given us an ideal of life, an ideal for us to
+attain to _here and now_, that we could not have without him. _One has
+conquered first; all may conquer afterward_. By completely realizing
+it first for himself, and then by pointing out to others this great law
+of the at-one-ment with the Father, he has become probably the world's
+greatest saviour.
+
+Don't mistake his mere person for his life and his teachings, an error
+that has been made in connection with most all great teachers by their
+disciples over and over again. And if you have been among the number
+who have been preaching a dead Christ, then for humanity's sake, for
+Christ's sake, for God's sake, and I speak most reverently, don't steal
+the people's time any longer, don't waste your own time more, in giving
+them stones in place of bread, dead form for the spirit of living
+truth. In his own words, "let the dead bury their dead." Come out
+from among them. Teach as did Jesus, _the living Christ_. Teach as
+did Jesus, _the Christ within_. Find this in all its transcendent
+beauty and power,--find it as Jesus found it, then you also will be one
+who will speak with authority. Then you will be able to lead large
+numbers of others to its finding. This is the pearl of great price.
+
+It is the type of preacher whose soul has never as yet even perceived
+the _vital spirit_ of the teachings of Jesus, and who as a consequence
+instead of giving this to the people, is giving them old forms and
+dogmas and speculations, who is emptying our churches. This is the
+type whose chief efforts seem to be in getting men ready to die. The
+Germans have a saying, Never go to the second thing first. We need men
+who will teach us first how to live. Living quite invariably precedes
+dying. This also is true, that when we once know how to live, and live
+in accordance with what we know, then the dying, as we term it, will in
+a wonderfully beautiful manner take care of itself. It is in fact the
+only way in which it can be taken care of.
+
+It is on account of this emptying of our churches, for the reason that
+the people are tiring of mere husks, that many short-sighted people are
+frequently heard to say that religion is dying out. Religion dying
+out? How can anything die before it is really born? And so far as the
+people are concerned, religion is just being born, or rather they are
+just awaking to a vital, every-day religion. We are just beginning to
+get beyond the mere letter into its real, vital spirit. Religion dying
+out? Impossible even to conceive of. Religion is as much a part of
+the human soul as the human soul is a part of God. And as long as God
+and the human soul exist, religion will never die.
+
+Much of the dogma, the form, the ceremony, the mere letter that has
+stood as religion,--and honestly, many times, let us be fair enough to
+say,--this, thank God, is rapidly dying out, and never so rapidly as it
+is today. By two methods it is dying. There is, first, a large class
+of people tired of or even nauseated with it all, who conscientiously
+prefer to have nothing rather than this. They are simply abandoning
+it, the same as a tree abandons its leaves when the early winter comes.
+There is, second, a large class in whom the Divine Breath is stirring,
+who are finding the Christ within in all its matchless beauty and
+redeeming power. And this new life is pushing off the old, the same as
+in the spring the newly awakened life in the tree pushes off the old,
+lifeless leaves that have clung on during the winter, to make place for
+the new ones. And the way this old dead leaf religion is being pushed
+off on every hand is indeed most interesting and inspiring to witness.
+
+Let the places of those who have been emptying our churches by reason
+of their attempts to give stones for bread, husks and chaff for the
+life-giving grain, let their places be taken even for but a few times
+by those who are open and alive to these higher inspirations, and then
+let us again question those who feel that religion is dying out. "It
+is the live coal that kindles others, not the dead." Let their places
+be taken by those who have caught the inspiration of the Divine Breath,
+who as a consequence have a message of mighty value and import for the
+people, who by virtue of this same fact are able to present it with a
+beauty and a power so enrapturing that it takes captive the soul. Then
+we will find that the churches that today are dotted here and there
+with a few dozen people will be filled to overflowing, and there will
+not be even room enough for all who would enter. "Let the shell perish
+that the pearl may appear." We need no new revelations as yet. We
+need simply to find the vital spirit of those we already have. Then in
+due time, when we are ready for them, new ones will come, but not
+before.
+
+"What the human soul, all the world over, needs," says John Pulsford,
+"is not to be harangued, however eloquently, about the old, accepted
+religion, but to be permeated, charmed, and taken captive by _a warmer
+and more potent Breath of God than they ever felt before_. And I
+should not be true to my personal experience if I did not bear
+testimony that this Divine Breath is as exquisitely adapted to the
+requirements of the soul's nature as a June morning to the planet. Nor
+does the morning breath leave the trees freer to delight themselves and
+develop themselves under its influence than the Breath of God allows
+each human mind to unfold according to its genius. Nothing stirs the
+central wheel of the soul like the Breath of God. The whole man is
+quickened, his senses are new senses, his emotions new emotions; his
+reason, his affections, his imagination, are all new-born. The change
+is greater than he knows; he marvels at the powers in himself which the
+Breath is opening and calling forth. He finds his nature to be an
+unutterable thing; he is sure therefore that the future must have
+inconceivable surprises in store. And herein lies the evidence, which
+I commend to my readers, of the existence of God, and of the Eternal
+human Hope. Let God's Breath kindle new spring-time in the soul, start
+into life its deeply buried germs, lead in heaven's summer; you will
+then have as clear evidence of God from within as you have of the
+universe from without. Indeed, your internal experience of life, and
+illimitable Hope in God will be nearer to you, and more prevailing,
+than all your external and superficial experience of nature and the
+world."
+
+There is but one source of power in the universe. Whatever then you
+are, painter, orator, musician, writer, religious teacher, or whatever
+it may be, know that to catch and take captive the secret of power is
+so to work in conjunction with the Infinite Power, in order that it may
+continually work and manifest through you. If you fail in doing this,
+you fail in everything. If you fail in doing this, your work, whatever
+it may be, will be third or fourth rate, possibly at times second rate,
+but it positively never can be first rate. Absolutely impossible will
+it be for you ever to become a master.
+
+Whatever estimate you put upon yourself will determine the
+effectiveness of your work along any line. As long as you live merely
+in the physical and the intellectual, you set limitations to yourself
+that will hold you as long as you so live. When, however, you come
+into the realization of your oneness with the Infinite Life and Power,
+and open yourself that it may work through you, you will find that you
+have entered upon an entirely new phase of life, and that an ever
+increasing power will be yours. Then it will be true that your
+strength will be as the strength of ten because your heart is pure.
+
+ "O God! I am one forever
+ With Thee by the glory of birth;
+ The celestial powers proclaim it
+ To the utmost bounds of the earth.
+
+ "I think of this birthright immortal,
+ And my being expands like a rose,
+ As an odorous cloud of incense
+ Around and above me flows.
+
+ "A glorious song of rejoicing
+ In an innermost spirit I hear,
+ And it sounds like heavenly voices,
+ In a chorus divine and clear.
+
+ "And I feel a power uprising,
+ Like the power of an embryo god;
+ With a glorious wall it surrounds me,
+ And lifts me up from the sod."
+
+
+
+
+PLENTY OF ALL THINGS--THE LAW OF PROSPERITY.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Plenty, the Power that has brought, that
+is continually bringing, all things into expression in material form.
+He who lives in the realization of his oneness with this Infinite Power
+becomes a magnet to attract to himself a continual supply of whatsoever
+things he desires.
+
+If one hold himself in the thought of poverty, he will be poor, and the
+chances are that he will remain in poverty. If he hold himself,
+whatever present conditions may be, continually in the thought of
+prosperity, he sets into operation forces that will sooner or later
+bring him into prosperous conditions. The law of attraction works
+unceasingly throughout the universe, and the one great and never
+changing fact in connection with it is, as we have found, that like
+attracts like. If we are one with this Infinite Power, this source of
+all things, then in the degree that we live in the realization of this
+oneness, in that degree do we actualize in ourselves a power that will
+bring to us an abundance of all things that it is desirable for us to
+have. In this way we come into possession of a power whereby we can
+actualize at all times those conditions that we desire.
+
+As all truth exists _now_, and awaits simply our perception of it, so
+all things necessary for present needs exist _now_, and await simply
+the power in us to appropriate them. God holds all things in His
+hands. His constant word is, My child, acknowledge me in all your
+ways, and in the degree that you do this, in the degree that you live
+this, then what is mine is yours. Jehovah-jireh,--the Lord will
+provide. "He giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." He
+giveth liberally to all men who put themselves in the right attitude to
+receive from Him. He forces no good things upon any one.
+
+The old and somewhat prevalent idea of godliness and poverty has
+absolutely no basis for its existence, and the sooner we get away from
+it the better. It had its birth in the same way that the idea of
+asceticism came into existence, when the idea prevailed that there was
+necessarily a warfare between the flesh and the spirit. It had its
+origin therefore in the minds of those who had a distorted, a one-sided
+view of life. True godliness is in a sense the same as true wisdom.
+The one who is truly wise, and who uses the forces and powers with
+which he is endowed, to him the great universe always opens her
+treasure house. The supply is always equal to the demand,--equal to
+the demand when the demand is rightly, wisely made. When one comes
+into the realization of these higher laws, then the fear of want ceases
+to tyrannize over him.
+
+Are you out of a situation? Let the fear that you will not get another
+take hold of and _dominate_ you, and the chances are that it may be a
+long time before you will get another, or the one that you do get may
+be a very poor one indeed. Whatever the circumstances, you must
+realize that you have within you forces and powers that you can set
+into operation that will triumph over any and all apparent or temporary
+losses. Set these forces into operation and you will then be placing a
+magnet that will draw to you a situation that may be far better than
+the one you have lost, and the time may soon come when you will be even
+thankful that you lost the old one.
+
+Recognize, working in and through you, the same Infinite Power that
+creates and governs all things in the universe, the same Infinite Power
+that governs the endless systems of worlds in space. Send out your
+thought,--thought is a force, and it has occult power of unknown
+proportions when rightly used and wisely directed,--send out your
+thought that the right situation or the right work will come to you at
+the right time, in the right way, and that you will recognize it when
+it comes. Hold to this thought, never allow it to weaken, hold to it,
+and continually water it with firm expectation. You in this way put
+your advertisement into a psychical, a spiritual newspaper, a paper
+that has not a limited circulation, but one that will make its way not
+only to the utmost bounds of the earth, but of the very universe
+itself. It is an advertisement, moreover, which if rightly placed on
+your part, will be far more effective than any advertisement you could
+possibly put into any printed sheet, no matter what claims are made in
+regard to its being "the great advertising medium." In the degree that
+you come into this realization and live in harmony with the higher laws
+and forces, in that degree will you be able to do this effectively.
+
+If you wish to look through the "want" columns of the newspapers, then
+do it not in the ordinary way. Put the higher forces into operation
+and thus place it on a higher basis. As you take up the paper, take
+this attitude of mind: If there is here an advertisement that it will
+be well for me to reply to, the moment I come to it I will recognize
+it. Affirm this, believe it, expect it. If you do this in full faith
+you will somehow feel the intuition the moment you come to the right
+one, and this intuition will be nothing more nor less than your own
+soul speaking to you. When it speaks then act at once.
+
+If you get the situation and it does not prove to be exactly what you
+want, if you feel that you are capable of filling a better one, then
+the moment you enter upon it take the attitude of mind that this
+situation is the stepping-stone that will lead you to one that will be
+still better. Hold this thought steadily, affirm it, believe it,
+expect it, and all the time be faithful, _absolutely faithful_ to the
+situation in which you are at present placed. If you are _not_
+faithful to it then the chances are that it will not be the
+stepping-stone to something better, but to something poorer. If you
+are faithful to it, the time may soon come when you will be glad and
+thankful, when you will rejoice, that you lost your old position.
+
+This is the law of prosperity: When apparent adversity comes, be not
+cast down by it, but make the best of it, and always look forward for
+better things, for conditions more prosperous. To hold yourself in
+this attitude of mind is to set into operation subtle, silent, and
+irresistible forces that sooner or later will actualize in material
+form that which is today merely an idea. But ideas have occult power,
+and ideas, when rightly planted and rightly tended, are the seeds that
+actualize material conditions.
+
+Never give a moment to complaint, but utilize the time that would
+otherwise be spent in this way in looking forward and actualizing the
+conditions you desire. Suggest prosperity to yourself. See yourself
+in a prosperous condition. Affirm that you will before long be in a
+prosperous condition. Affirm it calmly and quietly, but strongly and
+confidently. Believe it, believe it absolutely. Expect it,--keep it
+continually watered with expectation. You thus make yourself a magnet
+to attract the things that you desire. Don't be afraid to suggest, to
+affirm these things, for by so doing you put forth an ideal which will
+begin to clothe itself in material form. In this way you are utilizing
+agents among the most subtle and powerful in the universe. If you are
+particularly desirous for anything that you feel it is good and right
+for you to have, something that will broaden your life or that will
+increase your usefulness to others, simply hold the thought that at the
+right time, in the right way, and through the right instrumentality,
+there will come to you or there will open up for you the way whereby
+you can attain what you desire.
+
+I know of a young lady who a short time ago wanted some money very
+badly. She wanted it for a good purpose; she saw no reason why she
+shouldn't have it. She is one who has come into an understanding of
+the power of the interior forces. She took and held herself in the
+attitude of mind we have just pointed out. In the morning she entered
+into the silence for a few moments. In this way she brought herself
+into a more complete harmony with the higher powers. Before the day
+closed a gentleman called, a member of a family with which she was
+acquainted. He asked her if she would do for the family some work that
+they wanted done. She was a little surprised that they should ask her
+to do this particular kind of work, but she said to herself, "Here is a
+call. I will respond and see what it will lead to." She undertook the
+work. _She did it well_. When she had completed it there was put into
+her hands an amount of money far beyond what she had expected. She
+felt that it was an amount too large for the work she had done. She
+protested. They replied, "No; you have done us a service that
+transcends in value the amount we offer to pay you." The sum thus
+received was more than sufficient for the work she wished to accomplish.
+
+This is but one of many instances in connection with the wise and
+effective use of the higher powers. It also carries a lesson,--Don't
+fold your hands and expect to see things drop into your lap, but set
+into operation the higher forces and then take hold of the first thing
+that offers itself. Do what your hands find to do, _and do it well_.
+If this work is not thoroughly satisfactory to you, then affirm,
+believe, and expect that it is the agency that will lead you to
+something better. "The basis for attracting the best of all the world
+can give to you is to first surround, own, and live in these things in
+mind, or what is falsely called imagination. All so-called imaginings
+are realities and forces of unseen element. Live in mind in a palace
+and gradually palatial surroundings will gravitate to you. But so
+living is _not_ pining, or longing, or complainingly wishing. It is
+when you are 'down in the world,' calmly and persistently seeing
+yourself as up. It is when you are now compelled to eat from a tin
+plate, regarding that tin plate as only the certain step to one of
+silver. It is not envying and growling at other people who have silver
+plate. That growling is just so much capital stock taken from the bank
+account of mental force."
+
+A friend who knows the power of the interior forces, and whose life is
+guided in every detail by them, has given a suggestion in this form:
+When you are in the arms of the bear, even though he is hugging you,
+look him in the face and laugh, but all the time keep your eye on the
+bull. If you allow all of your attention to be given to the work of
+the bear, the bull may get entirely out of your sight. In other words,
+if you yield to adversity the chances are that it will master you, but
+if you recognize in yourself the power of mastery over conditions then
+adversity will yield to you, and will be changed into prosperity. If
+when it comes you calmly and quietly recognize it, and use the time
+that might otherwise be spent in regrets, and fears, and forebodings,
+in setting into operation the powerful forces within you, it will soon
+take its leave.
+
+Faith, absolute dogmatic faith, is the only law of true success. When
+we recognize the fact that a man carries his success or his failure
+with him, and that it does not depend upon outside conditions, we will
+come into the possession of powers that will quickly change outside
+conditions into agencies that make for success. When we come into this
+higher realization and bring our lives into complete harmony with the
+higher laws, we will then be able so to focus and direct the awakened
+interior forces, that they will go out and return laden with that for
+which they are sent. We will then be great enough to attract success,
+and it will not always be apparently just a little ways ahead. We can
+then establish in ourselves a centre so strong that instead of running
+hither and thither for this or that, we can stay at home and draw to us
+the conditions we desire. If we firmly establish and hold to this
+centre, things will seem continually to come our way.
+
+The majority of people of the modern world are looking for things that
+are practical and that can be utilized in every-day life. The more
+carefully we examine into the laws underlying the great truths we are
+considering, the more we will find that they are not only eminently
+practical, but in a sense, and in the deepest and truest sense, they
+are the only practical things there are.
+
+There are people who continually pride themselves upon being
+exceedingly "practical," but many times those who of themselves think
+nothing about this are the most practical people the world knows. And,
+on the other hand, those who take great pride in speaking of their own
+practicality are many times the least practical. Or again, in some
+ways they may be practical, but so far as life in its totality is
+concerned, they are absurdly impractical.
+
+What profit, for example, can there be for the man who, materially
+speaking, though he has gained the whole world, has never yet become
+acquainted with his own soul? There are multitudes of men all about us
+who are entirely missing the real life, men who have not learned even
+the a, b, c of true living. Slaves they are, abject slaves to their
+temporary material accumulations. Men who thinking they possess their
+wealth are on the contrary completely possessed by it. Men whose lives
+are comparatively barren in service to those about them and to the
+world at large. Men who when they can no longer hold the body,--the
+agency by means of which they are related to the material world,--will
+go out poor indeed, pitiably poor. Unable to take even the smallest
+particle of their accumulations with them, they will enter upon the
+other form of life naked and destitute.
+
+The kindly deeds, the developed traits of character, the realized
+powers of the soul, the real riches of the inner life and unfoldment,
+all those things that become our real and eternal possessions, have
+been given no place in their lives, and so of the real things of life
+they are destitute. Nay, many times worse than destitute. We must not
+suppose that habits once formed are any more easily broken off in the
+other form of life than they are in this. If one voluntarily grows a
+certain mania here, we must not suppose that the mere dropping of the
+body makes all conditions perfect. All is law, all is cause and
+effect. As we sow, so shall we also reap, not only in this life but in
+all lives.
+
+He who is enslaved with the sole desire for material possessions here
+will continue to be enslaved even after he can no longer retain his
+body. Then, moreover, he will have not even the means of gratifying
+his desires. Dominated by this habit, he will be unable to set his
+affections, for a time at least, upon other things, and the desire,
+without the means of gratifying it will be doubly torturing to him.
+Perchance this torture may be increased by his seeing the accumulations
+he thought were his now being scattered and wasted by spendthrifts. He
+wills his property, as we say, to others, but he can have no word as to
+its use.
+
+How foolish, then, for us to think that any material possessions _are
+ours_. How absurd, for example, for one to fence off a number of acres
+of God's earth and say they are _his_. Nothing is ours that we cannot
+retain. The things that come into our hands come not for the purpose
+of being possessed, as we say, much less for the purpose of being
+hoarded. They come into our hands to be used, to be wisely used. We
+are stewards merely, and as stewards we shall be held accountable for
+the way we use whatever is entrusted to us. That great law of
+compensation that runs through all life is wonderfully exact in its
+workings, although we may not always fully comprehend it, or even
+recognize it when it operates in connection with ourselves.
+
+The one who has come into the realization of the higher life no longer
+has a desire for the accumulation of enormous wealth, any more than he
+has a desire for any other _excess_. In the degree that he comes into
+the recognition of the fact that he is wealthy within, external wealth
+becomes less important in his estimation. When he comes into the
+realization of the fact that there is a source within from which he can
+put forth a power to call to him and actualize in his hands at any time
+a sufficient supply for all his needs, he no longer burdens himself
+with vast material accumulations that require his constant care and
+attention, and thus take his time and his thought from the real things
+of life. In other words, he first finds the _kingdom_, and he realizes
+that when he has found this, all other things follow in full measure.
+
+It is as hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, said
+the Master,--he who having nothing had everything,--as it is for a
+camel to pass through the eye of a needle. In other words, if a man
+give all his time to the accumulation, the hoarding of outward material
+possessions far beyond what he can possibly ever use, what time has he
+for the finding of that wonderful kingdom, which when found, brings all
+else with it. Which is better, to have millions of dollars, and to
+have the burden of taking care of it all,--for the one always involves
+the other,--or to come into the knowledge of such laws and forces that
+every need will be supplied in good time, to know that no good thing
+shall be withheld, to know that we have it in our power to make the
+supply always equal to the demand?
+
+The one who enters into the realm of this higher knowledge, never cares
+to bring upon himself the species of insanity that has such a firm hold
+upon so many in the world today. He avoids it as he would avoid any
+loathsome disease of the body. When we come into the realization of
+the higher powers, we will then be able to give more attention to the
+real life, instead of giving so much to the piling up of vast
+possessions that hamper rather than help it. It is the medium ground
+that brings the true solution here, the same as it is in all phases of
+life.
+
+Wealth beyond a certain amount cannot be used, and when it cannot be
+used it then becomes a hindrance rather than an aid, a curse rather
+than a blessing. All about us are persons with lives now stunted and
+dwarfed who could make them rich and beautiful, filled with a perennial
+joy, if they would begin wisely to use that which they have spent the
+greater portion of their lives in accumulating.
+
+The man who accumulates during his entire life, and who leaves even all
+when he goes out for "benevolent purposes," comes far short of the
+ideal life. It is but a poor excuse of a life. It is not especially
+commendable in me to give a pair of old, worn-out shoes that I shall
+never use again to another who is in need of shoes. But it is
+commendable, if indeed doing anything we ought to do can be spoken of
+as being commendable, it is commendable for me to give a good pair of
+strong shoes to the man who in the midst of a severe winter is
+practically shoeless, the man who is exerting every effort to earn an
+honest living and thereby take care of his family's needs. And if in
+giving the shoes I also give myself, he then has a double gift, and I a
+double blessing.
+
+There is no wiser use that those who have great accumulations can make
+of them than wisely to put them into life, into character, _day by day
+while they live_. In this way their lives will be continually enriched
+and increased. The time will come when it will be regarded as a
+disgrace for a man to die and leave vast accumulations behind him.
+
+Many a person is living in a palace today who in the real life is
+poorer than many a one who has not even a roof to cover him. A man may
+own and live in a palace, but the palace for him may be a pool-house
+still.
+
+Moth and rust are nature's wise provisions--God's methods--for
+disintegrating and scattering, in this way getting ready for use in new
+forms, that which is hoarded and consequently serving no use. There is
+also a great law continually operating whose effects are to dwarf and
+deaden the powers of true enjoyment, as well as all the higher
+faculties of the one who hoards.
+
+Multitudes of people are continually keeping away from them higher and
+better things because they are forever clinging on to the old. If they
+would use and pass on the old, room would be made for new things to
+come. Hoarding always brings loss in one form or another. Using,
+wisely using, brings an ever renewing gain.
+
+If the tree should as ignorantly and as greedily hold on to this year's
+leaves when they have served their purpose, where would be the full and
+beautiful new life that will be put forth in the spring? Gradual decay
+and finally death would be the result. If the tree is already dead,
+then it may perhaps be well enough for it to cling on to the old, for
+no new leaves will come. But as long as the life in the tree is
+active, it is _necessary_ that it rid itself of the old ones, that room
+may be made for the new.
+
+Opulence is the law of the universe, an abundant supply for every need
+if nothing is put in the way of its coming. The natural and the normal
+life for us is this,--To have such a fullness of life and power by
+living so continually in the realization of our oneness with the
+Infinite Life and Power that we find ourselves in the constant
+possession of an abundant supply of all things needed.
+
+Then not by hoarding but by wisely using and ridding ourselves of
+things as they come, an ever renewing supply will be ours, a supply far
+better adapted to present needs than the old could possibly be. In
+this way we not only come into possession of the richest treasures of
+the Infinite Good ourselves, but we also become open channels through
+which they can flow to others.
+
+
+
+
+HOW MEN HAVE BECOME PROPHETS, SEERS, SAGES, AND SAVIOURS.
+
+I have tried thus far to deal fairly with you in presenting these vital
+truths, and have spoken of everything on the basis of our own reason
+and insight. It has been my aim to base nothing on the teachings of
+others, though they may be the teachings of those inspired. Let us now
+look for a moment at these same great truths in the light of the
+thoughts and the teachings as put forth by some of the world's great
+thinkers and inspired teachers.
+
+The sum and substance of the thought presented in these pages is, you
+will remember, that the great central fact in human life is the coming
+into a conscious, vital realization of our oneness with the Infinite
+Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflow. I and
+the Father are one, said the Master. In this we see how he recognized
+his oneness with the Father's life. Again he said, The words that I
+speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in
+me, He doeth the works. In this we see how clearly he recognized the
+fact that he of himself could do nothing, only as he worked in
+conjunction with the Father. Again, My Father works and I work. In
+other words, my Father sends the power, I open myself to it, and work
+in conjunction with it.
+
+Again he said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
+and all these things shall be added unto you. And he left us not in
+the dark as to exactly what he meant by this, for again he said. Say
+not Lo here nor lo there, know ye not that the kingdom of heaven is
+within you? According to his teaching, the kingdom of God and the
+kingdom of heaven were one and the same. If, then, his teaching is
+that the kingdom of heaven is within us, do we not clearly see that,
+putting it in other words, his injunction is nothing more nor less
+than, Come ye into a conscious realization of your oneness with the
+Father's life. As you realize this oneness you find the kingdom, and
+when you find this, all things else shall follow.
+
+The story of the prodigal son is another beautiful illustration of this
+same great teaching of the Master. After the prodigal had spent
+everything, after he had wandered in all the realms of the physical
+senses in the pursuit of happiness and pleasure, and found that this
+did not satisfy but only brought him to the level of the animal
+creation, he then came to his senses and said, I will arise and go to
+my Father. In other words, after all these wanderings, his own soul at
+length spoke to him and said, You are not a mere animal. You are your
+Father's child. Arise and go to your Father, who holds all things in
+His hands. Again, the Master said, Call no man your Father upon the
+earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Here he recognized
+the fact that the real life is direct from the life of God. Our
+fathers and our mothers are the agents that give us the bodies, the
+houses in which we live, but the real life comes from the Infinite
+Source of Life, God, who is our Father.
+
+One day word was brought to the Master that his mother and his brethren
+were without, wishing to speak with him. Who is my mother and who are
+my brethren? said he. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
+is in heaven, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
+
+Many people are greatly enslaved by what we term ties of relationship.
+It is well, however, for us to remember that our true relatives are not
+necessarily those who are connected with us by ties of blood. Our
+truest relatives are those who are nearest akin to us in mind, in soul,
+in spirit. Our nearest relatives may be those living on the opposite
+side of the globe,--people whom we may never have seen as yet, but to
+whom we will yet be drawn, either in this form of life or in another,
+through that ever working and never failing law of attraction.
+
+When the Master gave the injunction, Call no man your father upon the
+earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven, he here gave us the
+basis for that grand conception of the fatherhood of God. And if God
+is equally the Father of all, then we have here the basis for the
+brotherhood of man. But there is, in a sense, a conception still
+higher than this, namely, the oneness of man and God, and hence the
+oneness of the whole human race. When we realize this fact, then we
+clearly see how in the degree that we come into the realization of our
+oneness with the Infinite Life, and so, every step that we make
+Godward, we aid in lifting all mankind up to this realization, and
+enable them, in turn, to make a step God-ward.
+
+The Master again pointed out our true relations with the Infinite Life
+when he said, Except ye become as little children ye shall not enter
+into the kingdom of heaven. When he said, Man shall not live by bread
+alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, he
+gave utterance to a truth of far greater import than we have as yet
+commenced fully to grasp. Here he taught that even the physical life
+can not be maintained by material food alone, but that one's connection
+with this Infinite Source determines to a very great extent the
+condition of even the bodily structure and activities. Blessed are the
+pure in heart for they shall see God. In other words, blessed are they
+who in all the universe recognize only God, for by such God shall be
+seen.
+
+Said the great Hindu sage, Manu, He who in his own soul perceives the
+Supreme Soul in all beings, and acquires equanimity toward them all,
+attains the highest bliss. It was Athanasius who said, Even we may
+become Gods walking about in the flesh. The same great truth we are
+considering is the one that runs through the life and the teachings of
+Gautama, he who became the Buddha. People are in bondage, said he,
+because they have not yet removed the idea of _I_. To do away with all
+sense of separateness, and to recognize the oneness of the self with
+the Infinite, is the spirit that breathes through all his teachings.
+Running through the lives of all the mediaeval mystics was this same
+great truth,--union with God.
+
+Then, coming nearer to our own time, we find the highly illumined seer,
+Emanuel Swedenborg, pointing out the great laws in connection with what
+he termed, the divine influx, and how we may open ourselves more fully
+to its operations. The great central fact in the religion and worship
+of the Friends is, the inner light,--God in the soul of man speaking
+directly in just the degree that the soul is opened to Him. The
+inspired one, the seer who when with us lived at Concord, recognized
+the same great truth when he said, We are all inlets to the great sea
+of life. And it was by opening himself so fully to its inflow that he
+became one inspired.
+
+All through the world's history we find that the men and the women who
+have entered into the realm of true wisdom and power, and hence into
+the realm of true peace and joy, have lived in harmony with this Higher
+Power. David was strong and powerful and his soul burst forth in
+praise and adoration in just the degree that he listened to the voice
+of God and lived in accordance with his higher promptings. Whenever he
+failed to do this we hear his soul crying out in anguish and
+lamentation. The same is true of every nation or people. When the
+Israelites acknowledged God and followed according to His leadings they
+were prosperous, contented, and powerful, and nothing could prevail
+against them. When they depended upon their own strength alone and
+failed to recognize God as the source of their strength, we find them
+overcome, in bondage, or despair.
+
+A great immutable law underlies the truth, Blessed are they that hear
+the word of God and do it. Then follows all. We are wise in the
+degree that we live according to the higher light.
+
+All the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world's history
+became what they became, and consequently had the powers they had,
+through an entirely natural process. They all recognized and came into
+the conscious realization of their oneness with the Infinite Life. God
+is no respecter of persons. He doesn't create prophets, seers, sages,
+and saviours as such. He creates men. But here and there one
+recognizes his true identity, recognizes the oneness of his life with
+the Source whence it came. He lives in the realization of this
+oneness, and in turn becomes a prophet, seer, sage, or saviour.
+Neither is God a respecter of races or of nations. He has no chosen
+people; but here and there a race or nation becomes a respecter of God
+and hence lives the life of a chosen people.
+
+There has been no age or place of miracles in distinction from any
+other age or place. What we term miracles have abounded in all places
+and at all times where conditions have been made for them. They are
+being performed today just as much as they ever have been when the laws
+governing them are respected. Mighty men, we are told they were,
+mighty men who walked with God; and in the words "who walked with God"
+lies the secret of the words "mighty men." Cause, effect.
+
+The Lord never prospers any man, but the man prospers because he
+acknowledges the Lord, and lives in accordance with the higher laws.
+Solomon was given the opportunity of choosing whatever he desired; his
+better judgment prevailed and he chose wisdom. But when he chose
+wisdom he found that it included all else beside. We are told that God
+hardened Pharaoh's heart. I don't believe it. God never hardens any
+one's heart. Pharaoh hardened his own heart and God was blamed for it.
+But when Pharaoh hardened his heart and disobeyed the voice of God, the
+plagues came. Again, cause, effect. Had he, on the contrary,
+listened,--in other words, had he opened himself to and obeyed the
+voice of God, the plagues would not have come.
+
+We can be our own best friends or we can be our own worst enemies. In
+the degree that we become friends to the highest and best within us, we
+become friends to all; and in the degree that we become enemies to the
+highest and best within us, do we become enemies to all. In the degree
+that we open ourselves to the higher powers and let them manifest
+through us, then by the very inspirations we carry with us do we become
+in a sense the saviours of our fellow-men, and in this way we all are,
+or may become, the saviours one of another. In this way you may
+become, indeed, one of the world's redeemers.
+
+
+
+
+THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF ALL RELIGIONS--THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION.
+
+The great truth we are considering is the fundamental principle running
+through all religions. We find it in every one. In regard to it all
+agree. It is, moreover, a great truth in regard to which all people
+can agree, whether they belong to the same or to different religions.
+People always quarrel about the trifles, about their personal views of
+minor insignificant points. They always come together in the presence
+of great fundamental truths, the threads of which run through all. The
+quarrels are in connection with the lower self, the agreements are in
+connection with the higher self.
+
+A place may have its factions that quarrel and fight among themselves,
+but let a great calamity come upon the land, flood, famine, pestilence,
+and these little personal differences are entirely forgotten and all
+work shoulder to shoulder in the one great cause. The changing, the
+evolving self gives rise to quarrels; the permanent, the soul self
+unites all in the highest efforts of love and service.
+
+Patriotism is a beautiful thing; it is well for me to love my country,
+but why should I love my own country more than I love all others? If I
+love my own and hate others, I then show my limitations, and my
+patriotism will stand the test not even for my own. If I love my own
+country and in the same way love all other countries, then I show the
+largeness of my nature, and a patriotism of this kind is noble and
+always to be relied upon.
+
+The view of God in regard to which we are agreed, that He is the
+Infinite Spirit of Life and Power that is back of all, that is working
+in and through all, that is the life of all, is a matter in regard to
+which all men, all religions can agree. With this view there can be no
+infidels or atheists. There are atheists and infidels in connection
+with many views that are held concerning God, and thank God there are.
+Even devout and earnest people among us attribute things to God that no
+respectable men or women would permit to be attributed to themselves.
+This view is satisfying to those who cannot see how God can be angry
+with his children, jealous, vindictive. A display of these qualities
+always lessens our respect for men and women, and still we attribute
+them to God.
+
+The earnest, sincere heretic is one of the greatest friends true
+religion can have. Heretics are among God's greatest servants. They
+are among the true servants of mankind. Christ was one of the greatest
+heretics the world has ever known. He allowed himself to be bound by
+no established or orthodox teachings or beliefs. Christ is
+preëminently a type of the universal. John the Baptist is a type of
+the personal. John dressed in a particular way, ate a particular kind
+of food, belonged to a particular order, lived and taught in a
+particular locality, and he himself recognized the fact that he must
+decrease while Christ must increase. Christ, on the other hand, gave
+himself absolutely no limitations. He allowed himself to be bound by
+nothing. He was absolutely universal and as a consequence taught not
+for his own particular day, but for all time.
+
+This mighty truth which we have agreed upon as the great central fact
+of human life is the golden thread that runs through all religions.
+When we make it the paramount fact in our lives we will find that minor
+differences, narrow prejudices, and all these laughable absurdities
+will so fall away by virtue of their very insignificance, that a Jew
+can worship equally as well in a Catholic cathedral, a Catholic in a
+Jewish synagogue, a Buddhist in a Christian church, a Christian in a
+Buddhist temple. Or all can worship equally well about their own
+hearth-stones, or out on the hillside, or while pursuing the avocations
+of every-day life. For true worship, only God and the human soul are
+necessary. It does not depend upon times, or seasons, or occasions.
+Anywhere and at any time God and man in the bush may meet.
+
+This is the great fundamental principle of the universal religion upon
+which all can agree. This is the great fact that is permanent. There
+are many things in regard to which all cannot agree. These are the
+things that are personal, non-essential, and so as time passes they
+gradually fall away. One who doesn't grasp this great truth, a
+Christian, for example, asks "But was not Christ inspired?" Yes, but
+he was not the only one inspired. Another who is a Buddhist asks, "Was
+not Buddha inspired?" Yes, but he was not the only one inspired. A
+Christian asks, "But is not our Christian Bible inspired?" Yes, but
+there are other inspired scriptures. A Brahmin or a Buddhist asks,
+"Are not the Vedas inspired?" Yes, but there are other inspired sacred
+books. Your error is not in believing that your particular scriptures
+are inspired, but your error is--and you show your absurdly laughable
+limitations by it--your inability to see that other scriptures are also
+inspired.
+
+The sacred books, the inspired writings, all come from the same
+source,--God, God speaking through the souls of those who open
+themselves that He may thus speak. Some may be more inspired than
+others. It depends entirely on the relative degree that this one or
+that one opens himself to the Divine voice. Says one of the inspired
+writers in the Hebrew scriptures, Wisdom is the breath of the power of
+God, and _in all ages_ entering into holy souls she maketh them friends
+of God and prophets.
+
+Let us not be among the number so dwarfed, so limited, so bigoted as to
+think that the Infinite God has revealed Himself to one little handful
+of His children, in one little quarter of the globe, and at one
+particular period of time. This isn't the pattern by which God works.
+Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every
+nation he that revereth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of
+Him, says the Christian Bible.
+
+When we fully realize this truth we will then see that it makes but
+little difference what particular form of religion one holds to, but it
+does make a tremendous difference how true he is to the _vital_
+principles of this one. In the degree that we love self less and love
+truth more, in that degree will we care less about converting people to
+our particular way of thinking, but all the more will we care to aid
+them in coming into the full realization of truth through the channels
+best adapted to them. The doctrine of our master, says the Chinese,
+consisted solely in integrity of heart. We will find as we search that
+this is the doctrine of every one who is at all worthy the name of
+master.
+
+The great fundamental principles of all religions are the same. They
+differ only in their minor details according to the various degrees of
+unfoldment of different people. I am sometimes asked, "To what
+religion do you belong?" What religion? Why, bless you, there is only
+one religion,--the religion of the living God. There are, of course,
+the various creeds of the same religion arising from the various
+interpretations of different people, but they are all of minor
+importance. The more unfolded the soul the less important do these
+minor differences become. There are also, of course, the various
+so-called religions. There is in reality, however, but one religion.
+
+The moment we lose sight of this great fact we depart from the real,
+vital spirit of true religion and allow ourselves to be limited and
+bound by form. In the degree that we do this we build fences around
+ourselves which keep others away from us, and which also prevent our
+coming into the realization of universal truth; there is nothing worthy
+the name of truth that is not universal.
+
+There is only one religion. "Whatever road I take joins the highway
+that leads to Thee," says the inspired writer in the Persian
+scriptures. "Broad is the carpet God has spread, and beautiful the
+colors he has given it." "The pure man respects every form of faith,"
+says the Buddhist. "My doctrine makes no difference between high and
+low, rich and poor; like the sky, it has room for all, and like the
+water, it washes all alike." "The broad minded see the truth in
+different religions; the narrow minded see only the differences," says
+the Chinese. The Hindu has said, "The narrow minded ask, 'Is this man
+a stranger, or is he of our tribe?' But to those in whom love dwells,
+the whole world is but one family." "Altar flowers are of many
+species, but all worship is one." "Heaven is a palace with many doors,
+and each may enter in his own way." "Are we not all children of one
+Father?" says the Christian. "God has made of one blood all nations,
+to dwell on the face of the earth." It was a latter-day seer who said,
+"That which was profitable to the soul of man the Father revealed to
+the ancients; that which is profitable to the soul of man today
+revealeth He this day."
+
+It was Tennyson who said, "I dreamed that stone by stone I reared a
+sacred fane, a temple, neither pagoda, mosque, nor church, but loftier,
+simpler, always open-doored to every breath from heaven, and Truth and
+Peace and Love and Justice came and dwelt therein."
+
+Religion in its true sense is the most joyous thing the human soul can
+know, and when the real religion is realized, we will find that it will
+be an agent of peace, of joy, and of happiness, and never an agent of
+gloomy, long-faced sadness. It will then be attractive to all and
+repulsive to none. Let our churches grasp these great truths, let them
+give their time and attention to bringing people into a knowledge of
+their true selves, into a knowledge of their relations, of their
+oneness, with the Infinite God, and such joy will be the result, and
+such crowds will flock to them, that their very walls will seem almost
+to burst, and such songs of joy will continually pour forth as will
+make all people in love with the religion that makes for every-day
+life, and hence the religion that is true and vital. Adequacy for
+life, adequacy for everyday life here and now, must be the test of all
+true religion. If it does not bear this test, then it simply is not
+religion. We need an everyday, a this-world religion. All time spent
+in connection with any other is worse than wasted. The eternal life
+that we are now living will be well lived if we take good care of each
+little period of time as it presents itself day after day. If we fail
+in doing this, we fail in everything.
+
+
+
+
+ENTERING NOW INTO THE REALIZATION OF THE HIGHEST RICHES.
+
+I hear the question, What can be said in a concrete way in regard to
+the method of coming into this realization? The facts underlying it
+are, indeed, most beautiful and true, but how can we actualize in
+ourselves the realization that carries with it such wonderful results?
+
+The method is not difficult if we do not of ourselves make it
+difficult. The principal word to be used is the word,--Open. Simply
+to open your mind and heart to this divine inflow which is waiting only
+for the opening of the gate, that it may enter. It is like opening the
+gate of the trough which conducts the water from the reservoir above
+into the field below. The water, by virtue of its very nature, will
+rush in and irrigate the field if the gate is but opened. As to the
+realization of our oneness with this Infinite Life and Power, after
+seeing, as I think we have clearly seen by this time, the relations it
+bears to us and we to it, the chief thing to be said is
+simply,--Realize your oneness with it. The open mind and heart whereby
+one is brought into the receptive attitude is the first thing
+necessary. Then the earnest, sincere desire.
+
+It may be an aid at first to take yourself for a few moments each day
+into the quiet, into the silence, where you will not be agitated by the
+disturbances that enter in through the avenues of the physical senses.
+There in the quiet alone with God, put yourself into the receptive
+attitude. Calmly, quietly, and expectantly desire that this
+realization break in upon and take possession of your soul. As it
+breaks in upon and takes possession of the soul, it will manifest
+itself to your mind, and from this you will feel its manifestations in
+every part of your body. Then in the degree that you open yourself to
+it you will feel a quiet, peaceful, illuminating power that will
+harmonize body, soul, and mind, and that will then harmonize these with
+all the world. You are now on the mountain top, and the voice of God
+is speaking to you. _Then, as you descend, carry this realization with
+you_. Live in it, waking, working, thinking, walking, sleeping. In
+this way, although you may not be continually on the mountain top, you
+will nevertheless be continually living in the realization of all the
+beauty, and inspiration, and power you have felt there.
+
+Moreover, the time will come when in the busy office or on the noisy
+street you can enter into the silence by simply drawing the mantle of
+your own thoughts about you and realizing that there and everywhere the
+Spirit of Infinite Life, Love, Wisdom, Peace, Power, and Plenty is
+guiding, keeping, protecting, leading you. This is the spirit of
+continual prayer. This it is to pray without ceasing. This it is to
+know and to walk with God. _This it is to find the Christ within_.
+This is the new birth, the second birth. First that which is natural,
+then that which is spiritual. It is thus that the old man Adam is put
+off and the new man Christ is put on. This it is to be saved unto life
+eternal, whatever one's form of belief or faith may be; for it is life
+eternal to know God. "The Sweet By and By" will be a song of the past.
+We will create a new song--"The Beautiful Eternal Now."
+
+This is the realization that you and I can come into this very day,
+this very hour, this very minute, if we desire and if we will it. And
+if now we merely set our faces in the right direction, it is then but a
+matter of time until we come into the full splendors of this complete
+realization. To set one's face in the direction of the mountain and
+then simply to journey on, whether rapidly or more slowly, will bring
+him to it. But unless one set his face in the right direction and make
+the start, he will not reach it. It was Goethe who said:
+
+ "Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute:
+ What you can do, or dream you can, begin it;
+ Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
+ Only engage and then the mind grows heated;
+ Begin and then the work will be completed."
+
+
+Said the young man, Gautama Siddhârtha, I have awakened to the truth
+and I am resolved to accomplish my purpose,--Verily I shall become a
+Buddha. It was this that brought him into the life of the Enlightened
+One, and so into the realization of Nirvana right here in this life.
+That this same realization and life is within the possibilities of all
+here and now was his teaching. It was this that has made him the Light
+Bearer to millions of people.
+
+Said the young man, Jesus, Know ye not that I must be about my Father's
+business? Making this the one great purpose of his life he came into
+the full and complete realization,--I and the Father are one. He thus
+came into the full realization of the Kingdom of Heaven right here in
+this life. That all could come into this same realization and life
+here and now was his teaching. It was this that has made him the Light
+Bearer to millions of people.
+
+And so far as practical things are concerned, we may hunt the wide
+universe through and we shall find that there is no injunction more
+practical than, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
+and all other things shall be added unto you. And in the light of what
+has gone before, I think there is no one who is open to truth and
+honest with himself who will fail to grasp the underlying reason and
+see the great laws upon which it is based.
+
+Personally I know lives that have so fully entered into the kingdom
+through the realization of their oneness with the Infinite Life and
+through the opening of themselves so fully to its divine guidance, that
+they are most wonderful concrete examples of the reality of this great
+and all-important truth. They are people whose lives are in this way
+guided not only in a general way, but literally in every detail. They
+simply live in the realization of their oneness with this Infinite
+Power, continually in harmony with it, and so continually in the
+realization of the kingdom of heaven. An abundance of all things is
+theirs. They are never at a loss for anything. The supply seems
+always equal to the demand. They never seem at a loss in regard to
+what to do or how to do it. Their lives are care-less lives. They are
+lives free from care because they are continually conscious of the fact
+that the higher powers are doing the guiding, and they are relieved of
+the responsibility. To enter into detail in connection with some of
+these lives, and particularly with two or three that come to my mind at
+this moment, would reveal facts that no doubt to some would seem almost
+incredible if not miraculous. But let us remember that what is
+possible for one life to realize is possible for all. This is indeed
+the natural and the normal life, that which will be the every-day life
+of every one who comes into and who lives in this higher realization
+and so in harmony with the higher laws. This is simply getting into
+the current of that divine sequence running throughout the universe;
+and when once in it, life then ceases to be a plodding and moves along
+day after day much as the tides flow, much as the planets move in their
+courses, much as the seasons come and go.
+
+All the frictions, all the uncertainties, all the ills, the sufferings,
+the fears, the forebodings, the perplexities of life come to us because
+we are out of harmony with the divine order of things. They will
+continue to come as long as we so live. Rowing against the tide is
+hard and uncertain. To go with the tide and thus to take advantage of
+the working of a great natural force is safe and easy. To come into
+the conscious, vital realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life
+and Power is to come into the current of this divine sequence. Coming
+thus into harmony with the Infinite, brings us in turn into harmony
+with all about us, into harmony with the life of the heavens, into
+harmony with all the universe. And above all, it brings us into
+harmony with ourselves, so that body, soul, and mind become perfectly
+harmonized, and when this is so, life becomes full and complete.
+
+The sense life then no longer masters and enslaves us. The physical is
+subordinated to and ruled by the mental; this in turn is subordinated
+to and continually illumined by the spiritual. Life is then no longer
+the poor, one-sided thing it is in so many cases; but the three-fold,
+the all-round life with all its beauties and ever increasing joys and
+powers is entered upon. Thus it is that we are brought to realize that
+the middle path is the great solution of life; neither asceticism on
+the one hand nor license and perverted use on the other. Everything is
+for use, but all must be wisely used in order to be fully enjoyed.
+
+As we live in these higher realizations the senses are not ignored but
+are ever more fully perfected. As the body becomes less gross and
+heavy, finer in its texture and form, all the senses become finer, so
+that powers we do not now realize as belonging to us gradually develop.
+Thus we come, in a perfectly natural and normal way, into the
+super-conscious realms whereby we make it possible for the higher laws
+and truths to be revealed to us. As we enter into these realms we are
+then not among those who give their time in speculating as to whether
+this one or that one had the insight and the powers attributed to him,
+but we are able _to know_ for ourselves. Neither are we among those
+who attempt to lead the people upon the hearsay of some one else, but
+we know whereof we speak, and only thus can we speak with authority.
+There are many things that we cannot know until by living the life we
+bring ourselves into that state where it is possible for them to be
+revealed to us. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the
+doctrine." It was Plotinus who said, The mind that wishes to behold
+God must itself become God. As we thus make it possible for these
+higher laws and truths to be revealed to us, we will in turn become
+enlightened ones, channels through which they may be revealed to others.
+
+When one is fully alive to the possibilities that come with this higher
+awakening, as he goes here and there, as he mingles with his
+fellow-men, he imparts to all an inspiration that kindles in them a
+feeling of power kindred to his own. We are all continually giving out
+influences similar to those that are playing in our own lives. We do
+this in the same way that each flower emits its own peculiar odor. The
+rose breathes out its fragrance upon the air and all who come near it
+are refreshed and inspired by this emanation from the soul of the rose.
+A poisonous weed sends out its obnoxious odor; it is neither refreshing
+nor inspiring in its effects, and if one remain near it long he may be
+so unpleasantly affected as to be made even ill by it.
+
+The higher the life the more inspiring and helpful are the emanations
+that it is continually sending out. The lower the life the more
+harmful is the influence it continually sends out to all who come in
+contact with it. Each one is continually radiating an atmosphere of
+one kind or the other.
+
+We are told by the mariners who sail on the Indian Seas, that many
+times they are able to tell their approach to certain islands long
+before they can see them by the sweet fragrance of the sandalwood that
+is wafted far out upon the deep. Do you not see how it would serve to
+have such a soul playing through such a body that as you go here and
+there a subtle, silent force goes out from you that all feel and are
+influenced by; so that you carry with you an inspiration and
+continually shed a benediction wherever you go; so that your friends
+and all people will say,--His coming brings peace and joy into our
+homes, welcome his coming; so that as you pass along the street, tired,
+and weary, and even sin-sick men and women will feel a certain divine
+touch that will awaken new desires and a new life in them; that will
+make the very horse as you pass him turn his head with a strange,
+half-human, longing look? Such are the subtle powers of the human soul
+when it makes itself translucent to the Divine. To know that such a
+life is within our living here and now is enough to make one burst
+forth with songs of joy. And when the life itself is entered upon, the
+sentiment of at least one song will be:
+
+ "Oh! I stand in the Great Forever,
+ All things to me are divine;
+ I eat of the heavenly manna,
+ I drink of the heavenly wine.
+
+ "In the gleam of the shining rainbow
+ The Father's Love I behold,
+ As I gaze on its radiant blending
+ Of crimson and blue and gold.
+
+ "In all the bright birds that are singing,
+ In all the fair flowers that bloom,
+ Whose welcome aromas are bringing
+ Their blessings of sweet perfume;
+
+ "In the glorious tint of the morning,
+ In the gorgeous sheen of the night,
+ Oh! my soul is lost in rapture,
+ My senses are lost in sight."
+
+
+As one comes into and lives continually in the full, conscious
+realization of his oneness with the Infinite Life and Power, then all
+else follows. This it is that brings the realization of such
+splendors, and beauties, and joys as a life that is thus related with
+the Infinite Power alone can know. This it is to come into the
+realization of heaven's richest treasures while walking the earth.
+This it is to bring heaven down to earth, or rather to bring earth up
+to heaven. This it is to exchange weakness and impotence for strength;
+sorrows and sighings for joy; fears and forebodings for faith; longings
+for realizations. This it is to come into fullness of peace, power,
+and plenty. This it is to be in tune with the Infinite.
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, In Tune with the Infinite, by Ralph Waldo
+Trine
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: In Tune with the Infinite
+ or, Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
+
+
+Author: Ralph Waldo Trine
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 20, 2007 [eBook #23559]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN TUNE WITH THE INFINITE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+IN TUNE WITH THE INFINITE
+
+or
+
+Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
+
+by
+
+RALPH WALDO TRINE
+
+Author of
+ "What All the World's A-Seeking,"
+ "The Greatest Thing Ever Known,"
+ "Every Living Creature."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ _Within yourself lies the cause of whatever enters
+ into your life. To come into the full realization
+ of your own awakened interior powers, is to be
+ able to condition your life in exact accord with
+ what you would have it._
+
+
+
+Seventy-Seventh Thousand
+in England and America
+
+London
+George Bell & Sons
+1903
+
+First English Edition, Dec. 1899
+Reprinted April and October 1900
+February and June 1901; April 1902; January 1903
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+There is a golden thread that runs through every religion in the world.
+There is a golden thread that runs through the lives and the teachings
+of all the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world's history,
+through the lives of all men and women of truly great and lasting
+power. All that they have ever done or attained to has been done in
+full accordance with law. What one has done, all may do.
+
+This same golden thread must enter into the lives of all who today, in
+this busy work-a-day world of ours, would exchange impotence for power,
+weakness and suffering for abounding health and strength, pain and
+unrest for perfect peace, poverty of whatever nature for fullness and
+plenty.
+
+Each is building his own world. We both build from within and we
+attract from without. Thought is the force with which we build, for
+thoughts are forces. Like builds like and like attracts like. In the
+degree that thought is spiritualized does it become more subtle and
+powerful in its workings. This spiritualizing is in accordance with
+law and is within the power of all.
+
+Everything is first worked out in the unseen before it is manifested in
+the seen, in the ideal before it is realized in the real, in the
+spiritual before it shows forth in the material. The realm of the
+unseen is the realm of cause. The realm of the seen is the realm of
+effect. The nature of effect is always determined and conditioned by
+the nature of its cause.
+
+To point out the great facts in connection with, and the great laws
+underlying the workings of the interior, spiritual, thought forces, to
+point them out so simply and so clearly that even a child can
+understand, is the author's aim. To point them out so simply and so
+clearly that all can grasp them, that all can take them and infuse them
+into every-day life, so as to mould it in all its details in accordance
+with what they would have it, is his purpose. That life can be thus
+moulded by them is not a matter of mere speculation or theory with him,
+but a matter of positive knowledge.
+
+There is a divine sequence running throughout the universe. Within and
+above and below the human will incessantly works the Divine will. To
+come into harmony with it and thereby with all the higher laws and
+forces, to come then into league and to work in conjunction with them,
+in order that they can work in league and in conjunction with us, is to
+come into the chain of this wonderful sequence. This is the secret of
+all success. This is to come into the possession of unknown riches,
+into the realization of undreamed-of powers.
+
+R.W.T.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ I. PRELUDE
+ II. THE SUPREME FACT OF THE UNIVERSE
+ III. THE SUPREME FACT OF HUMAN LIFE
+ IV. FULLNESS OF LIFE--BODILY HEALTH AND VIGOR
+ V. THE SECRET, POWER, AND EFFECTS OF LOVE
+ VI. WISDOM AND INTERIOR ILLUMINATION
+ VII. THE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE
+ VIII. COMING INTO FULLNESS OF POWER
+ IX. PLENTY OF ALL THINGS--THE LAW OF PROSPERITY
+ X. HOW MEN HAVE BECOME PROPHETS, SEERS, SAGES, AND SAVIOURS
+ XI. THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF ALL RELIGIONS--THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION
+ XII. ENTERING NOW INTO THE REALIZATION OF THE HIGHEST RICHES
+
+
+
+
+FULLNESS OF PEACE, POWER, AND PLENTY.
+
+
+PRELUDE.
+
+The optimist is right. The pessimist is right. The one differs from
+the other as the light from the dark. Yet both are right. Each is
+right from his own particular point of view, and this point of view is
+the determining factor in the life of each. It determines as to
+whether it is a life of power or of impotence, of peace or of pain, of
+success or of failure.
+
+The optimist has the power of seeing things in their entirety and in
+their right relations. The pessimist looks from a limited and a
+one-sided point of view. The one has his understanding illumined by
+wisdom, the understanding of the other is darkened by ignorance. Each
+is building his world from within, and the result of the building is
+determined by the point of view of each. The optimist, by his superior
+wisdom and insight, is making his own heaven, and in the degree that he
+makes his own heaven is he helping to make one for all the world
+beside. The pessimist, by virtue of his limitations, is making his own
+hell, and in the degree that he makes his own hell is he helping to
+make one for all mankind.
+
+You and I have the predominating characteristics of an optimist or the
+predominating characteristics of a pessimist. We then are making, hour
+by hour, our own heaven or our own hell; and in the degree that we are
+making the one or the other for ourselves are we helping make it for
+all the world beside.
+
+The word heaven means harmony. The word hell is from the old English
+_hell_, meaning to build a wall around, to separate; to be _helled_ was
+to be shut off from. Now if there is such a thing as harmony there
+must be that something one can be in right relations with; for to be in
+right relations with anything is to be in harmony with it. Again, if
+there is such a thing as being _helled_, shut off, separated from,
+there must be that something from which one is held, shut off, or
+separated.
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPREME FACT OF THE UNIVERSE.
+
+The great central fact of the universe is that Spirit of Infinite Life
+and Power that is behind all, that animates all, that manifests itself
+in and through all; that self-existent principle of life from which all
+has come, and not only from which all has come, but from which all is
+continually coming. If there is an individual life, there must of
+necessity be an infinite source of life from which it comes. If there
+is a quality or a force of love, there must of necessity be an infinite
+source of love whence it comes. If there is wisdom, there must be the
+all-wise source behind it from which it springs. The same is true in
+regard to peace, the same in regard to power, the same in regard to
+what we call material things.
+
+There is, then, this Spirit of Infinite Life and Power behind all which
+is the source of all. This Infinite Power is creating, working, ruling
+through the agency of great immutable laws and forces that run through
+all the universe, that surround us on every side. Every act of our
+every-day lives is governed by these same great laws and forces. Every
+flower that blooms by the wayside, springs up, grows, blooms, fades,
+according to certain great immutable laws. Every snowflake that plays
+between earth and heaven, forms, falls, melts, according to certain
+great unchangeable laws.
+
+In a sense there is nothing in all the great universe but law. If this
+is true there must of necessity be a force behind it all that is the
+maker of these laws and a force greater than the laws that are made.
+This Spirit of Infinite Life and Power that is behind all is what I
+call God. I care not what term you may use, be it Kindly Light,
+Providence, the Over Soul, Omnipotence, or whatever term may be most
+convenient. I care not what the term may be as long as we are agreed
+in regard to the great central fact itself.
+
+God, then, is this Infinite Spirit which fills all the universe with
+Himself alone, so that all is from Him and in Him, and there is nothing
+that is outside. Indeed and in truth, then, in Him we live and move
+and have our being. He is the life of our life, our very life itself.
+We have received, we are continually receiving our life from Him. We
+are partakers of the life of God; and though we differ from Him in that
+we are individualized spirits, while He is the Infinite Spirit
+including us as well as all else beside, _yet in essence the life of
+God and the life of man are identically the same, and so are one_.
+They differ not in essence, in quality; they differ in degree.
+
+There have been and are highly illumined souls who believe that we
+receive our life from God after the manner of a divine inflow. And
+again, there have been and are those who believe that our life is one
+with the life of God, and so that God and man are one. Which is right?
+Both are right; both right when rightly understood.
+
+In regard to the first: if God is the Infinite Spirit of Life behind
+all, whence all comes, then clearly our life as individualized spirits
+is continually coming from this Infinite Source by means of this divine
+inflow. In the second place, if our lives as individualized spirits
+are directly from, are parts of this Infinite Spirit of Life, then the
+degree of the Infinite Spirit that is manifested in the life of each
+must be identical in quality with that Source, the same as a drop of
+water taken from the ocean is, in nature, in characteristics, identical
+with that ocean, its source. And how could it be otherwise? The
+liability to misunderstanding in this latter case, however, is this: in
+that although the life of God and the life of man in essence are
+identically the same, the life of God so far transcends the life of
+individual man that it includes all else beside. In other words, so
+far as the quality of life is concerned, in essence they are the same;
+so far as the degree of life is concerned, they are vastly different.
+
+In this light is it not then evident that both conceptions are true?
+and more, that they are one and the same? Both conceptions may be
+typified by one and the same illustration.
+
+There is a reservoir in a valley which receives its supply from an
+inexhaustible reservoir on the mountain side. It is then true that the
+reservoir in the valley receives its supply by virtue of the inflow of
+the water from the larger reservoir on the mountain side. It is also
+true that the water in this smaller reservoir is in nature, in quality,
+in characteristics identically the same as that in the larger reservoir
+which is its source. The difference, however, is this: the reservoir
+on the mountain side, in the _amount_ of its water, so far transcends
+the reservoir in the valley that it can supply an innumerable number of
+like reservoirs and still be unexhausted.
+
+And so in the life of man. If, as I think we have already agreed,
+however we may differ in regard to anything else, there is this
+Infinite Spirit of Life behind all, the life of all, and so, from which
+all comes, then the life of individual man, your life and mine, must
+come by a divine inflow from this Infinite Source. And if this is
+true, then the life that comes by this inflow to man is necessarily the
+same in essence as is this Infinite Spirit of Life. There is a
+difference. It is not a difference in essence. It is a difference in
+degree.
+
+If this is true, does it not then follow that in the degree that man
+opens himself to this divine inflow does he approach to God? If so, it
+then necessarily follows that in the degree that he makes this approach
+does he take on the God-powers. And if the God-powers are without
+limit, does it not then follow that the only limitations man has are
+the limitations he sets to himself, by virtue of not knowing himself?
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPREME FACT OF HUMAN LIFE.
+
+From the great central fact of the universe in regard to which we have
+agreed, namely, this Spirit of Infinite Life that is behind all and
+from which all comes, we are led to inquire as to what is the great
+central fact in human life. From what has gone before, the question
+almost answers itself.
+
+_The great central fact in human life, in your life and in mine, is the
+coming into a conscious, vital realization of our oneness with this
+Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine
+inflow_. This is the great central fact in human life, for in this all
+else is included, all else follows in its train. In just the degree
+that we come into a conscious realization of our oneness with the
+Infinite Life, and open ourselves to this divine inflow, do we
+actualize in ourselves the qualities and powers of the Infinite Life.
+
+And what does this mean? It means simply this: that we are recognizing
+our true identity, that we are bringing our lives into harmony with the
+same great laws and forces, and so opening ourselves to the same great
+inspirations, as have all the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in
+the world's history, all men of truly great and mighty power. For in
+the degree that we come into this realization and connect ourselves
+with this Infinite Source, do we make it possible for the higher powers
+to play, to work, to manifest through us.
+
+We can keep closed to this divine inflow, to these higher forces and
+powers, through ignorance, as most of us do, and thus hinder or even
+prevent their manifesting through us. Or we can intentionally close
+ourselves to their operations and thus deprive ourselves of the powers
+to which, by the very nature of our being, we are rightful heirs. On
+the other hand, we can come into so vital a realization of the oneness
+of our real selves with this Infinite Life, and can open ourselves so
+fully to the incoming of this divine inflow, and so to the operation of
+these higher forces, inspirations, and powers, that we can indeed and
+in truth become what we may well term, God-men.
+
+And what is a God-man? One in whom the powers of God are manifesting,
+though yet a man. No one can set limitations to a man or a woman of
+this type; for the only limitations he or she can have are those set by
+the self. Ignorance is the most potent factor in setting limitations
+to the majority of mankind; and so the great majority of people
+continue to live their little, dwarfed, and stunted lives simply by
+virtue of the fact that they do not realize the larger life to which
+they are heirs. They have never as yet come into a knowledge of the
+real identity of their true selves.
+
+Mankind has not yet realized that the real self is one with the life of
+God. Through its ignorance it has never yet opened itself to the
+divine inflow, and so has never made itself a channel through which the
+infinite powers and forces can manifest. When we know ourselves merely
+as men, we live accordingly, and have merely the powers of men. When
+we come into the realization of the fact that we are God-men, then
+again we live accordingly, and have the powers of God-men. _In the
+degree that we open ourselves to this divine inflow are we changed from
+mere men into God-men_.
+
+
+A friend has a beautiful lotus pond. A natural basin on his
+estate--his farm as he always calls it--is supplied with water from a
+reservoir in the foothills some distance away. A gate regulates the
+flow of the water from the main that conducts it from the reservoir to
+the pond. It is a spot of transcendent beauty. There, through the
+days of the perfect summer weather, the lotus flowers lie full blown
+upon the surface of the clear, transparent water. The June roses and
+other wild flowers are continually blooming upon its banks. The birds
+come here to drink and to bathe, and from early until late one can hear
+the melody of their song. The bees are continually at work in this
+garden of wild flowers. A beautiful grove, in which many kinds of wild
+berries and many varieties of brakes and ferns grow, stretches back of
+the pond as far as the eye can reach.
+
+Our friend is a man, nay more, a God-man, a lover of his kind, and as a
+consequence no notice bearing such words as "Private grounds, no
+trespassing allowed," or "Trespassers will be prosecuted," stands on
+his estate. But at the end of a beautiful by-way that leads through
+the wildwood up to this enchanting spot, stands a notice bearing the
+words "All are welcome to the Lotus Pond." All love our friend. Why?
+They can't help it. He so loves them, and what is his is theirs.
+
+Here one may often find merry groups of children at play. Here many
+times tired and weary looking men and women come, and somehow, when
+they go their faces wear a different expression,--the burden seems to
+be lifted; and now and then I have heard them when leaving, sometimes
+in a faint murmur, as if uttering a benediction, say, "God bless our
+brother-friend." Many speak of this spot as the Garden of God. My
+friend calls it his Soul Garden, and he spends many hours in quiet
+here. Often have I seen him after the others have gone, walking to and
+fro, or sitting quietly in the clear moonlight on an old rustic bench,
+drinking in the perfume of the wild flowers. He is a man of a
+beautifully simple nature. He says that here the real things of life
+come to him, and that here his greatest and most successful plans, many
+times as by a flash of inspiration, suggest themselves to him.
+
+Everything in the immediate vicinity seems to breathe a spirit of
+kindliness, comfort, good-will, and good cheer. The very cattle and
+sheep as they come to the old stone-fence at the edge of the grove and
+look across to this beautiful spot seem, indeed, to get the same
+enjoyment that the people are getting. They seem almost to smile in
+the realization of their contentment and enjoyment; or perhaps it seems
+so to the looker-on, because he can scarcely help smiling as he sees
+the manifested evidence of their contentment and pleasure.
+
+The gate of the pond is always open wide enough to admit a supply of
+water so abundant that it continually overflows a quantity sufficient
+to feed a stream that runs through the fields below, giving the pure
+mountain water in drink to the cattle and flocks that are grazing
+there. The stream then flows on through the neighbors' fields.
+
+Not long ago our friend was absent for a year. He rented his estate
+during his absence to a man who, as the world goes, was of a very
+"practical" turn of mind. He had no time for anything that did not
+bring him direct "practical" returns. The gate connecting the
+reservoir with the lotus pond was shut down, and no longer had the
+crystal mountain water the opportunity to feed and overflow it. The
+notice of our friend, "All are welcome to the Lotus Pond," was removed,
+and no longer were the gay companies of children and of men and women
+seen at the pond. A great change came over everything. On account of
+the lack of the life-giving water the flowers in the pond wilted, and
+their long stems lay stretched upon the mud in the bottom. The fish
+that formerly swam in its clear water soon died and gave an offensive
+odor to all who came near. The flowers no longer bloomed on its banks.
+The birds no longer came to drink and to bathe. No longer was heard
+the hum of the bees; and more, the stream that ran through the fields
+below dried up, so that the cattle and the flocks no longer got their
+supply of clear mountain water.
+
+The difference between the spot now and the lotus pond when our friend
+gave it his careful attention was caused, as we readily see, by the
+shutting of the gate to the pond, thus preventing the water from the
+reservoir in the hills which was the source of its life, from entering
+it. And when this, the source of its life, was shut off, not only was
+the appearance of the lotus pond entirely changed, but the surrounding
+fields were deprived of the stream to whose banks the flocks and cattle
+came for drink.
+
+In this do we not see a complete parallel so far as human life is
+concerned? In the degree that we recognize our oneness, our connection
+with the Infinite Spirit which is the life of all, and in the degree
+that we open ourselves to this divine inflow, do we come into harmony
+with the highest, the most powerful, and the most beautiful everywhere.
+And in the degree that we do this do we overflow, so that all who come
+in contact with us receive the effects of this realization on our part.
+This is the lotus pond of our friend, he who is in love with all that
+is truest and best in the universe. And in the degree that we fail to
+recognize our oneness with this Infinite Source, and so close, shut
+ourselves to this divine inflow, do we come into that state where there
+seems to be with us nothing of good, nothing of beauty, nothing of
+power; and when this is true, those who come in contact with us receive
+not good, but harm. This is the spot of the lotus pond while the farm
+was in the hands of a renter.
+
+There is this difference between the lotus pond and your life and mine.
+It has no power in itself of opening the gate to the inflow of the
+water from the reservoir which is its source. In regard to this it is
+helpless and dependent upon an outside agency. You and I have the
+power, the power within us, to open or to close ourselves to this
+divine inflow exactly as we choose. This we have through the power of
+mind, through the operation of thought.
+
+There is the soul life, direct from God. This it is that relates us to
+the Infinite. There is, then, the physical life. This it is that
+relates us to the material universe about us. The thought life
+connects the one with the other. It is this that plays between the two.
+
+Before we proceed farther let us consider very briefly the nature of
+thought. Thought is not, as is many times supposed, a mere indefinite
+abstraction, or something of a like nature. It is, on the contrary, a
+vital, living force, the most vital, subtle, and irresistible force
+there is in the universe.
+
+In our very laboratory experiments we are demonstrating the great fact
+that thoughts are forces. They have form, and quality, and substance,
+and power, and we are beginning to find that there is what we may term
+a _science of thought_. We are beginning also to find that through the
+instrumentality of our thought forces we have creative power, not
+merely in a figurative sense, but creative power in reality.
+
+Everything in the material universe about us, everything the universe
+has ever known, had its origin first in thought. From this it took its
+form. Every castle, every statue, every painting, every piece of
+mechanism, everything had its birth, its origin, first in the mind of
+the one who formed it before it received its material expression or
+embodiment. The very universe in which we live is the result of the
+thought energies of God, the Infinite Spirit that is back of all. And
+if it is true, as we have found, that we in our true selves are in
+essence the same, and in this sense are one with the life of this
+Infinite Spirit, do we not then see that in the degree that we come
+into a vital realization of this stupendous fact, _we, through the
+operation of our interior, spiritual, thought forces, have in like
+sense creative power_?
+
+Everything exists in the unseen before it is manifested or realized in
+the seen, and in this sense it is true that the unseen things are the
+real, while the things that are seen are the unreal. The unseen things
+are _cause_; the seen things are _effect_. The unseen things are the
+eternal; the seen things are the changing, the transient.
+
+The "_power of the word_" is a literal scientific fact. Through the
+operation of our thought forces we have creative power. The spoken
+word is nothing more nor less than the outward expression of the
+workings of these interior forces. The spoken word is then, in a
+sense, the means whereby the thought forces are focused and directed
+along any particular line; and this concentration, this giving them
+direction, is necessary before any outward or material manifestation of
+their power can become evident.
+
+Much is said in regard to "building castles in the air," and one who is
+given to this building is not always looked upon with favor. But
+castles in the air are always necessary before we can have castles on
+the ground, before we can have castles in which to live. The trouble
+with the one who gives himself to building castles in the air is not
+that he builds them in the air, but that he does not go farther and
+actualize in life, in character, in material form, the castles he thus
+builds. He does a part of the work, a very necessary part; but another
+equally necessary part remains still undone.
+
+There is in connection with the thought forces what we may term, the
+drawing power of mind, and the great law operating here is one with
+that great law of the universe, that like attracts like. We are
+continually attracting to us from both the seen and the unseen side of
+life, forces and conditions most akin to those of our own thoughts.
+
+This law is continually operating whether we are conscious of it or
+not. We are all living, so to speak, in a vast ocean of thought, and
+the very atmosphere around us is continually filled with the thought
+forces that are being continually sent or that are continually going
+out in the form of thought waves. We are all affected, more or less,
+by these thought forces, either consciously or unconsciously; and in
+the degree that we are more or less sensitively organized, or in the
+degree that we are negative and so are open to outside influences,
+rather than positive, thus determining what influences shall enter into
+our realm of thought, and hence into our lives.
+
+There are those among us who are much more sensitively organized than
+others. As an organism their bodies are more finely, more sensitively
+constructed. These, generally speaking, are people who are always more
+or less affected by the mentalities of those with whom they come in
+contact, or in whose company they are. A friend, the editor of one of
+our great journals, is so sensitively organized that it is impossible
+for him to attend a gathering, such as a reception, talk and shake
+hands with a number of people during the course of the evening, without
+taking on to a greater or less extent their various mental and physical
+conditions. These affect him to such an extent that he is scarcely
+himself and in his best condition for work until some two or three days
+afterward.
+
+Some think it unfortunate for one to be sensitively organized. By no
+means. It is a good thing, for one may thus be more open and receptive
+to the higher impulses of the soul within, and to all higher forces and
+influences from without. It may, however, be unfortunate and extremely
+inconvenient to be so organized unless one recognize and gain the power
+of closing himself, of making himself positive to all detrimental or
+undesirable influences. This power every one, however sensitively
+organized he may be, can acquire.
+
+This he can acquire through the mind's action. And, moreover, there is
+no habit of more value to anyone, be he sensitively or less sensitively
+organized, than that of occasionally taking and holding himself
+continually in the attitude of mind--I close myself, I make myself
+positive to all things below, and open and receptive to all higher
+influences, to all things above. By taking this attitude of mind
+consciously now and then, it soon becomes a habit, and if one is deeply
+in earnest in regard to it, it puts into operation silent but subtle
+and powerful influences in effecting the desired results. In this way
+all lower and undesirable influences from both the seen and the unseen
+side of life are closed out, while all higher influences are invited,
+and in the degree that they are invited will they enter.
+
+And what do we mean by the unseen side of life? First, the thought
+forces, the mental and emotional conditions in the atmosphere about us
+that are generated by those manifesting on the physical plane through
+the agency of physical bodies. Second, the same forces generated by
+those who have dropped the physical body, or from whom it has been
+struck away, and who are now manifesting through the agency of bodies
+of a different nature.
+
+"The individual existence of man _begins_ on the sense plane of the
+physical world, but rises through successive gradations of ethereal and
+celestial spheres, corresponding with his ever unfolding deific life
+and powers, to a destiny of unspeakable grandeur and glory. Within and
+above every physical planet is a corresponding ethereal planet, or soul
+world, as within and above every physical organism is a corresponding
+ethereal organism, or soul body, of which the physical is but the
+external counterpart and materialized expression. From this
+etherealized or soul planet, which is the immediate home of our arisen
+humanity, there rises or deepens in infinite gradations spheres within
+and above spheres, to celestial heights of spiritualized existence
+utterly inconceivable to the sense man. Embodiment, accordingly, is
+two-fold,--the physical being but the temporary husk, so to speak, in
+and by which the real and permanent ethereal organism is individualized
+and perfected, somewhat as 'the full corn in the ear' is reached by
+means of its husk, for which there is no further use. By means of this
+indestructible ethereal body and the corresponding ethereal spheres of
+environment with the social life and relations in the spheres, the
+individuality and personal life is preserved forever."
+
+The fact of life in whatever form means the continuance of life, even
+though the form be changed. Life is the one eternal principle of the
+universe and so always continues, even though the form of the agency
+through which it manifests be changed. "In my Father's house are many
+mansions." And surely, because the individual has dropped, has gone
+out of the physical body, there is no evidence at all that the life
+does not go right on the same as before, not commencing,--for there is
+no cessation,--but commencing in the other form, exactly where it has
+left off here; for all life is a continuous evolution, step by step;
+there one neither skips nor jumps.
+
+There are in the other form, then, mentalities and hence lives of all
+grades and influences, the same as there are in the physical form. If,
+then, the great law that like attracts like is ever operating, we are
+continually attracting to us from this side of life influences and
+conditions most akin to those of our own thoughts and lives. A
+grewsome thought that we should be so influenced, says one. By no
+means, all life is one; we are all bound together in the one common and
+universal life, and especially not when we take into consideration the
+fact that we have it entirely in our own hands to determine the order
+of thought we entertain, and consequently the order of influences we
+attract, and are not mere willowy creatures of circumstance, unless
+indeed we choose to be.
+
+In our mental lives we can either keep hold of the rudder and so
+determine exactly what course we take, what points we touch, or we can
+fail to do this, and failing, we drift, and are blown hither and
+thither by every passing breeze. And so, on the contrary, welcome
+should be the thought, for thus we may draw to us the influence and the
+aid of the greatest, the noblest, and the best who have lived on the
+earth, whatever the time, wherever the place.
+
+We cannot rationally believe other than that those who have labored in
+love and with uplifting power here are still laboring in the same way,
+and in all probability with more earnest zeal, and with still greater
+power.
+
+"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he
+may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw:
+and, behold, the mountain _was full of horses and chariots of fire_
+round about Elisha."
+
+While riding with a friend a few days ago, we were speaking of the
+great interest people are everywhere taking in the more vital things of
+life, the eagerness with which they are reaching out for a knowledge of
+the interior forces, their ever increasing desire to know themselves
+and to know their true relations with the Infinite. And in speaking of
+the great spiritual awakening that is so rapidly coming all over the
+world, the beginnings of which we are so clearly seeing during the
+closing years of this, and whose ever increasing proportions we are to
+witness during the early years of the coming century, I said, "How
+beautiful if Emerson, the illumined one so far in advance of his time,
+who labored so faithfully and so fearlessly to bring about these very
+conditions, how beautiful if he were with us today to witness it all!
+how he would rejoice!" "How do we know," was the reply, "that he is
+not witnessing it all? and more, that he is not having a hand in it
+all,--a hand even greater, perhaps, than when we _saw_ him here?"
+Thank you, my friend, for this reminder. And, truly, "are they not all
+ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs
+of salvation?"
+
+As science is so abundantly demonstrating today,--the things that we
+see are but a very small fraction of the things that are. The real,
+vital forces at work in our own lives and in the world about us are not
+seen by the ordinary physical eye. Yet they are the causes of which
+all things we see are merely the effects. Thoughts are forces; like
+builds like, and like attracts like. For one to govern his thinking,
+then, is to determine his life.
+
+Says one of deep insight into the nature of things: "The law of
+correspondences between spiritual and material things is wonderfully
+exact in its workings. People ruled by the mood of gloom attract to
+them gloomy things. People always discouraged and despondent do not
+succeed in anything, and live only by burdening some one else. The
+hopeful, confident, and cheerful attract the elements of success. A
+man's front or back yard will advertise that man's ruling mood in the
+way it is kept. A woman at home shows her state of mind in her dress.
+A slattern advertises the ruling mood of hopelessness, carelessness,
+and lack of system. Rags, tatters, and dirt are always in the mind
+before being on the body. The thought that is most put out brings its
+corresponding visible element to crystallize about you as surely and
+literally as the visible bit of copper in solution attracts to it the
+invisible copper in that solution. A mind always hopeful, confident,
+courageous, and determined on its set purpose, and keeping itself to
+that purpose, attracts to itself out of the elements things and powers
+favorable to that purpose.
+
+"Every thought of yours has a literal value to you in every possible
+way. The strength of your body, the strength of your mind, your
+success in business, and the pleasure your company brings others,
+depends on the nature of your thoughts. . . . In whatever mood you set
+your mind does your spirit receive of unseen substance in
+correspondence with that mood. It is as much a chemical law as a
+spiritual law. Chemistry is not confined to the elements we see. The
+elements we do not see with the physical eye outnumber ten thousand
+times those we do see. The Christ injunction, 'Do good to those who
+hate you,' is based on a scientific fact and a natural law. So, to do
+good is to bring to yourself all the elements in nature of power and
+good. To do evil is to bring the contrary destructive elements. When
+our eyes are opened, self-preservation will make us stop all evil
+thought. Those who live by hate will die by hate: that is, 'those who
+live by the sword will die by the sword.' Every evil thought is as a
+sword drawn on the person to whom it is directed. If a sword is drawn
+in return, so much the worse for both."
+
+And says another who knows full well whereof he speaks: "The law of
+attraction works universally on every plane of _action_, and we attract
+whatever we desire or expect. If we desire one thing and expect
+another, we become like houses divided against themselves, which are
+quickly brought to desolation. Determine resolutely to expect only
+what you desire, then you will attract only what you wish for. . . .
+Carry any kind of thought you please about with you, and so long as you
+retain it, no matter how you roam over land or sea, you will
+unceasingly attract to yourself, knowingly or inadvertently, exactly
+and only what corresponds to your own dominant quality of thought.
+Thoughts are our private property, and we can regulate them to suit our
+taste entirely by steadily recognizing our ability so to do."
+
+We have just spoken of the drawing power of mind. Faith is nothing
+more nor less than the operation of the _thought forces_ in the form of
+an earnest desire, coupled with expectation as to its fulfillment. And
+in the degree that faith, the earnest desire thus sent out, is
+continually held to and watered by firm expectation, in just that
+degree does it either draw to itself, or does it change from the unseen
+into the visible, from the spiritual into the material, that for which
+it is sent.
+
+Let the element of doubt or fear enter in, and what would otherwise be
+a tremendous force will be so neutralized that it will fail of its
+realization. Continually held to and continually watered by firm
+expectation, it becomes a force, a drawing power, that is irresistible
+and absolute, and the results will be absolute in direct proportion as
+it is absolute.
+
+We shall find, as we are so rapidly beginning to find today, that the
+great things said in regard to faith, the great promises made in
+connection with it, are not mere vague sentimentalities, but are all
+great scientific facts, and rest upon great immutable laws. Even in
+our very laboratory experiments we are beginning to discover the laws
+underlying and governing these forces. We, are now beginning, some at
+least, to use them understandingly and not blindly, as has so often and
+so long been the case.
+
+Much is said today in regard to the will. It is many times spoken of
+as if it were a force in itself. But will is a force, a power, only in
+so far as it is a particular form of the manifestation of the thought
+forces; for it is by what we call the "will" that thought is focused
+and given a particular direction, and in the degree that thought is
+thus focused and given direction, is it effective in the work it is
+sent out to accomplish.
+
+In a sense there are two kinds of will,--the human and the divine. The
+human will is the will of what, for convenience' sake, we may term the
+lower self. It is the will that finds its life merely in the realm of
+the mental and the physical,--the sense will. It is the will of the
+one who is not yet awake to the fact that there is a life that far
+transcends the life of merely the intellect and the physical senses,
+and which when realized and lived, does not do away with or minify
+these, but which, on the contrary, brings them to their highest
+perfection and to their powers of keenest enjoyment. The divine will
+is the will of the higher self, the will of the one who recognizes his
+oneness with the Divine, and who consequently brings his will to work
+in harmony, in conjunction with the divine will. "The Lord thy God _in
+the midst of thee_ is mighty."
+
+The human will has its limitations. So far and no farther, says the
+law. The divine will has no limitations. It is supreme. All things
+are open and subject to you, says the law, and so, in the degree that
+the human will is transmuted into the divine, in the degree that it
+comes into harmony with and so, acts in conjunction with the divine,
+does it become supreme. Then it is that "Thou shalt decree a thing and
+it shall be established unto thee." The great secret of life and of
+power, then, is to make and to keep one's conscious connection with
+this Infinite Source.
+
+The power of every life, the very life itself, is determined by what it
+relates itself to. God is immanent as well as transcendent. He is
+creating, working, ruling in the universe today, in your life and in
+mine, just as much as He ever has been. We are too apt to regard Him
+after the manner of an absentee landlord, one who has set into
+operation the forces of this great universe, and then taken Himself
+away.
+
+In the degree, however, that we recognize Him as immanent as well as
+transcendent, are we able to partake of His life and power. For in the
+degree that we recognize Him as the Infinite Spirit of Life and Power
+that is today, at this very moment, working and manifesting in and
+through all, and then, in the degree that we come into the realization
+of our oneness with this life, do we become partakers of, and so do we
+actualize in ourselves the qualities of His life. _In the degree that
+we open ourselves to the inflowing tide of this immanent and
+transcendent life, do we make ourselves channels through which the
+Infinite Intelligence and Power can work_.
+
+It is through the instrumentality of the mind that we are enabled to
+connect the real soul life with the physical life, and so enable the
+soul life to manifest and work through the physical. The thought life
+needs _continually_ to be illumined from within. This illumination can
+come in just the degree that through the agency of the mind we
+recognize our oneness with the Divine, of which each soul is an
+individual form of expression.
+
+This gives us the inner guiding which we call intuition. "Intuition is
+to the spiritual nature and understanding practically what sense
+perception is to the sensuous nature and understanding. It is an inner
+spiritual sense through which man is opened to the direct revelation
+and knowledge of God, the secrets of nature and life, and through which
+he is brought into conscious unity and fellowship with God, and made to
+realize his own deific nature and supremacy of being as the son of God.
+Spiritual supremacy and illumination thus realized through the
+development and perfection of intuition under divine inspiration, gives
+the perfect inner vision and direct insight into the character,
+properties, and purpose of all things to which the attention and
+interest are directed. . . . It is, we repeat, a spiritual sense
+opening inwardly, as the physical senses open outwardly; and because it
+has the capacity to perceive, grasp, and know the truth at first hand,
+independent of all external sources of information, we call it
+intuition. All inspired teaching and spiritual revelations are based
+upon the recognition of this spiritual faculty of the soul, and its
+power to receive and appropriate them. . . . Conscious unity of man in
+spirit and purpose with the Father, born out of his supreme desire and
+trust, opens his soul through this inner sense to immediate inspiration
+and enlightenment from the Divine Omniscience, and the co-operative
+energy of the Divine Omnipotence, under which he becomes a seer and a
+master.
+
+"On this higher plane of realized spiritual life in the flesh the mind
+holds the impersonal attitude and acts with unfettered freedom and
+unbiased vision, grasping truth at first hand, independent of all
+external sources of information. Approaching all beings and things
+from the divine side, they are seen in the light of the Divine
+Omniscience. God's purpose in them, and so the truth concerning them,
+as it rests in the mind of God, are thus revealed by direct
+illumination from the Divine Mind, to which the soul is opened inwardly
+through this spiritual sense we call intuition." Some call it the
+voice of the soul; some call it the voice of God; some call it the
+sixth sense. It is our inner spiritual sense.
+
+In the degree that we come into the recognition of our own _true_
+selves, into the realization of the oneness of our life with the
+Infinite Life, and in the degree that we open ourselves to this divine
+inflow, does this voice of intuition, this voice of the soul, this
+voice of God, speak clearly; and in the degree that we recognize,
+listen to, and obey it, does it speak ever more clearly, until
+by-and-by there comes the time when it is unerring, _absolutely
+unerring_, in its guidance.
+
+
+
+
+FULLNESS OF LIFE--BODILY HEALTH AND VIGOR.
+
+God is the Spirit of Infinite Life. If we are partakers of this life,
+and have the power of opening ourselves fully to its divine inflow, it
+means more, so far as even the physical life is concerned, than we may
+at first think. For very clearly, the life of this Infinite Spirit,
+from its very nature, can admit of no disease; and if this is true, no
+disease can exist in the body where it freely enters, through which it
+freely flows.
+
+Let us recognize at the outset that, so far as the physical life is
+concerned, _all life is from within out_. There is an immutable law
+which says: "As within, so without; cause, effect." In other words,
+the thought forces, the various mental states and the emotions, all
+have in time their effects upon the physical body.
+
+Some one says: "I hear a great deal said today in regard to the effects
+of the mind upon the body, but I don't know as I place very much
+confidence in this." Don't you? Some one brings you sudden news. You
+grow pale, you tremble, or perhaps you fall into a faint. It is,
+however, through the channel of your mind that the news is imparted to
+you. A friend says something to you, perhaps at the table, something
+that seems very unkind. You are hurt by it, as we say. You have been
+enjoying your dinner, but from this moment your appetite is gone. But
+what was said entered into and affected you through the channel of your
+mind.
+
+Look! yonder goes a young man, dragging his feet, stumbling over the
+slightest obstruction in the path. Why is it? Simply that he is
+weak-minded, an idiot. In other words, _a falling state of mind is
+productive of a falling condition of the body_. To be sure minded is
+to be sure footed. To be uncertain in mind is to be uncertain in step.
+
+Again, a sudden emergency arises. You stand trembling and weak with
+fear. Why are you powerless to move? Why do you tremble? And yet you
+believe that the mind has but little influence upon the body. You are
+for a moment dominated by a fit of anger. For a few hours afterwards
+you complain of a violent headache. And still you do not seem to
+realize that the thoughts and emotions have an effect upon the body.
+
+A day or two ago, while conversing with a friend, we were speaking of
+worry. "My father is greatly given to worry," he said. "Your father
+is not a healthy man," I said. "He is not strong, vigorous, robust,
+and active." I then went on to describe to him more fully his father's
+condition and the troubles which afflicted him. He looked at me in
+surprise and said, "Why, you do not know my father?" "No," I replied.
+"How then can you describe so accurately the disease with which he is
+afflicted?" "You have just told me that your father is greatly given
+to worry. When you told me this you indicated to me cause. In
+describing your father's condition I simply connected with the cause
+its own peculiar effects."
+
+Fear and worry have the effect of closing up the channels of the body,
+so that the life forces flow in a slow and sluggish manner. Hope and
+tranquillity open the channels of the body, so that the life forces go
+bounding through it in such a way that disease can rarely get a
+foothold.
+
+Not long ago a lady was telling a friend of a serious physical trouble.
+My friend happened to know that between this lady and her sister the
+most kindly relations did not exist. He listened attentively to her
+delineation of her troubles, and then, looking her squarely in the
+face, in a firm but kindly tone said: "Forgive your sister." The woman
+looked at him in surprise and said: "I can't forgive my sister." "Very
+well, then," he replied, "keep the stiffness of your joints and your
+kindred rheumatic troubles."
+
+A few weeks later he saw her again. With a light step she came toward
+him and said: "I took your advice. I saw my sister and forgave her.
+We have become good friends again, and I don't know how it is, but
+somehow or other from the very day, as I remember, that we became
+reconciled, my troubles seemed to grow less, and today there is not a
+trace of the old difficulties left; and really, my sister and I have
+become such good friends that now we can scarcely get along without one
+another." Again we have effect following cause.
+
+We have several well-authenticated cases of the following nature: A
+mother has been dominated for a few moments by an intense passion of
+anger, and the child at her breast has died within an hour's time, so
+poisoned became the mother's milk by virtue of the poisonous secretions
+of the system while under the domination of this fit of anger. In
+other cases it has caused severe illness and convulsions.
+
+The following experiment has been tried a number of times by a
+well-known scientist: Several men have been put into a heated room.
+Each man has been dominated for a moment by a particular passion of
+some kind; one by an intense passion of anger, and others by different
+other passions. The experimenter has taken a drop of perspiration from
+the body of each of these men, and by means of a careful chemical
+analysis he has been able to determine the particular passion by which
+each has been dominated. Practically the same results revealed
+themselves in the chemical analysis of the saliva of each of the men.
+
+Says a noted American author, an able graduate of one of our greatest
+medical schools, and one who has studied deeply into the forces that
+build the body and the forces that tear it down: "The mind is the
+natural protector of the body. . . . Every thought tends to reproduce
+itself, and ghastly mental pictures of disease, sensuality, and vice of
+all sorts, produce scrofula and leprosy in the soul, which reproduces
+them in the body. Anger changes the chemical properties of the saliva
+to a poison dangerous to life. It is well known that sudden and
+violent emotions have not only weakened the heart in a few hours, but
+have caused death and insanity. It has been discovered by scientists
+that there is a chemical difference between that sudden cold exudation
+of a person under a deep sense of guilt and the ordinary perspiration;
+and the state of the mind can sometimes be determined by chemical
+analysis of the perspiration of a criminal, which, when brought into
+contact with selenic acid, produces a distinctive pink color. It is
+well known that fear has killed thousands of victims; while, on the
+other hand, _courage is a great invigorator_.
+
+"Anger in the mother may poison a nursing child. Rarey, the celebrated
+horse-tamer, said that an angry word would sometimes raise the pulse of
+a horse ten beats in a minute. If this is true of a beast, what can we
+say of its power upon human beings, especially upon a child? Strong
+mental emotion often causes vomiting. Extreme anger or fright may
+produce jaundice. A violent paroxysm of rage has caused apoplexy and
+death. Indeed, in more than one instance, a single night of mental
+agony has wrecked a life. Grief, long-standing jealousy, constant care
+and corroding anxiety sometimes tend to develop insanity. Sick
+thoughts and discordant moods are the natural atmosphere of disease,
+and crime is engendered and thrives in the miasma of the mind."
+
+From all this we get the great fact we are scientifically demonstrating
+today,--that the various mental states, emotions, and passions have
+their various peculiar effects upon the body, and each induces in turn,
+if indulged in to any great extent, its own peculiar forms of disease,
+and these in time become chronic.
+
+Just a word or two in regard to their mode of operation. If a person
+is dominated for a moment by, say a passion of anger, there is set up
+in the physical organism what we might justly term a bodily
+thunder-storm, which has the effect of souring, or rather of corroding,
+the normal, healthy, and life-giving secretions of the body, so that
+instead of performing their natural functions they become poisonous and
+destructive. And if this goes on to any great extent, by virtue of
+their cumulative influences, they give rise to a particular form of
+disease, which in turn becomes chronic. So the emotion opposite to
+this, that of kindliness, love, benevolence, good-will, tends to
+stimulate a healthy, purifying, and life-giving flow of all the bodily
+secretions. All the channels of the body seem free and open; the life
+forces go bounding through them. And these very forces, set into a
+bounding activity, will in time counteract the poisonous and
+disease-giving effects of their opposites.
+
+A physician goes to see a patient. He gives no medicine this morning.
+Yet the very fact of his going makes the patient better. He has
+carried with him the spirit of health; he has carried brightness of
+tone and disposition; he has carried hope into the sick chamber; he has
+left it there. In fact, the very hope and good cheer he has carried
+with him has taken hold of and has had a subtle but powerful influence
+upon the mind of the patient; and this mental condition imparted by the
+physician has in turn its effects upon the patient's body, and so
+through the instrumentality of this mental suggestion the healing goes
+on.
+
+ "Know, then, whatever cheerful and serene
+ Supports the mind, supports the body, too.
+ Hence the most vital movement mortals feel
+ Is _hope_; the balm and life-blood of the soul."
+
+
+We sometimes hear a person in weak health say to another, "I always
+feel better when you come." There is a deep scientific reason
+underlying the statement. "The tongue of the wise is health." The
+power of suggestion so far as the human mind is concerned is a most
+wonderful and interesting field of study. Most wonderful and powerful
+forces can be set into operation through this agency. One of the
+world's most noted scientists, recognized everywhere as one of the most
+eminent anatomists living, tells us that he has proven from laboratory
+experiments that the entire human structure can be completely changed,
+made over, within a period of less than one year, and that some
+portions can be entirely remade within a period of a very few weeks.
+
+"Do you mean to say," I hear it asked, "that the body can be changed
+from a diseased to a healthy condition through the operation of the
+interior forces?" Most certainly; and more, this is the natural method
+of cure. The method that has as its work the application of drugs,
+medicines and external agencies is the artificial method. The only
+thing that any drug or any medicine can do is to remove obstructions,
+that the life forces may have simply a better chance to do their work.
+_The real healing process must be performed by the operation of the
+life forces within_. A surgeon and physician of world-wide fame
+recently made to his medical associates the following declaration: "For
+generations past the most important influence that plays upon
+nutrition, the _life principle_ itself, has remained an unconsidered
+element in the medical profession, and the almost exclusive drift of
+its studies and remedial paraphernalia has been confined to the action
+of matter over mind. This has seriously interfered with the
+evolutionary tendencies of the doctors themselves, and consequently the
+psychic factor in professional life is still in a rudimentary or
+comparatively undeveloped state. But the light of the nineteenth
+century has dawned, and so the march of mankind in general is taken in
+the direction of the hidden forces of nature. Doctors are now
+compelled to join the ranks of students in psychology and follow their
+patrons into the broader field of mental therapeutics. There is no
+time for lingering, no time for skepticism or doubt or hesitation. _He
+who lingers is lost, for the entire race is enlisted in the movement_."
+
+I am aware of the fact that in connection with the matter we are now
+considering there has been a great deal of foolishness during the past
+few years. Many absurd and foolish things have been claimed and done;
+but this says nothing against, and it has absolutely nothing to do with
+the great underlying laws themselves. The same has been true of the
+early days of practically every system of ethics or philosophy or
+religion the world has ever known. But as time has passed, these
+foolish, absurd things have fallen away, and the great eternal
+principles have stood out ever more and more clearly defined.
+
+I know _personally_ of many cases where an entire and permanent cure
+has been effected, in some within a remarkably short period of time,
+through the operation of these forces. Some of them are cases that had
+been entirely given up by the regular practice, _materia medica_. We
+have numerous accounts of such cases in all times and in connection
+with all religions. And why should not the power of effecting such
+cures exist among us today? The _power does exist_, and it will be
+actualized in just the degree that we recognize the same great laws
+that were recognized in times past.
+
+One person may do a very great deal in connection with the healing of
+another, but this almost invariably implies co-operation on the part of
+the one who is thus treated. In the cures that Christ performed he
+most always needed the co-operation of the one who appealed to him.
+His question almost invariably was, "Dost thou believe?" He thus
+stimulated into activity the life-giving forces within the one cured.
+If one is in a very weak condition, or if his nervous system is
+exhausted, or if his mind through the influence of the disease is not
+so strong in its workings, it may be well for him for a time to seek
+the aid and co-operation of another. But it would be far better for
+such a one could he bring himself to a vital realization of the
+omnipotence of his own interior powers.
+
+One may cure another, but to be _permanently healed_ one must do it
+himself. In this way another may be most valuable as a teacher by
+bringing one to a clear realization of the power of the forces within,
+but in every case, in order to have a permanent cure, the work of the
+self is necessary. Christ's words were almost invariably,--Go and sin
+no more, or, thy sins are forgiven thee, thus pointing out the one
+eternal and never-changing fact,--that all disease and its consequent
+suffering is the direct or the indirect result of the violation of law,
+either consciously or unconsciously, either intentionally or
+unintentionally.
+
+Suffering is designed to continue only so long as sin continues, sin
+not necessarily in the theological, but always in the philosophical
+sense, though many times in the sense of both. The moment the
+violation ceases, the moment one comes into perfect harmony with the
+law, the cause of the suffering ceases; and though there may be
+residing within the cumulative effects of past violation, the cause is
+removed, and consequently there can be no more effects in the form of
+additions, and even the diseased condition that has been induced from
+past violation will begin to disappear as soon as the right forces are
+set into activity.
+
+There is nothing that will more quickly and more completely bring one
+into harmony with the laws under which he lives than this vital
+realization of his oneness with the Infinite Spirit, which is the life
+of all life. In this there can be no disease, and nothing will more
+readily remove from the organism the obstructions that have accumulated
+there, or in other words, the disease that resides there, than this
+full realization and the complete opening of one's self to this divine
+inflow. "I shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live."
+
+The moment a person realizes his oneness with the Infinite Spirit he
+recognizes himself as a spiritual being, and no longer as a mere
+physical, material being. He then no longer makes the mistake of
+regarding himself as body, subject to ills and diseases, but he
+realizes the fact that he is spirit, spirit now as much as he ever will
+or can be, and that he is the builder and so the master of the body,
+the house in which he lives; and the moment he thus recognizes his
+power as master he ceases in any way to allow it the mastery over him.
+He no longer fears the elements or any of the forces that he now in his
+ignorance allows to take hold of and affect the body. The moment he
+realizes his own supremacy, instead of fearing them as he did when he
+was out of harmony with them, he learns to love them. He thus comes
+into harmony with them; or rather, he so orders them that they come
+into harmony with him. He who formerly was the slave has now become
+the master. The moment we come to love a thing it no longer carries
+harm for us.
+
+There are almost countless numbers today, weak and suffering in body,
+who would become strong and healthy if they would only give God an
+opportunity to do His work. To such I would say, _Don't shut out the
+divine inflow_. Do anything else rather than this. Open yourselves to
+it. Invite it. In the degree that you open yourselves to it, its
+inflowing tide will course through your bodies a force so vital that
+the old obstructions that are dominating them today will be driven out
+before it. "My words are life to them that find them, and health to
+all their flesh."
+
+There is a trough through which a stream of muddy water has been
+flowing for many days. The dirt has gradually collected on its sides
+and bottom, and it continues to collect as long as the muddy water
+flows through it. Change this. Open the trough to a swift-flowing
+stream of clear, crystal water, and in a very little while even the
+very dirt that has collected on its sides and bottom will be carried
+away. The trough will be entirely cleansed. It will present an aspect
+of beauty and no longer an aspect of ugliness. And more, the water
+that now courses through it will be of value; it will be an agent of
+refreshment, of health and of strength to those who use it.
+
+Yes, in just the degree that you realize your oneness with this
+Infinite Spirit of Life, and thus actualize your latent possibilities
+and powers, you will exchange dis-ease for ease, inharmony for harmony,
+suffering and pain for abounding health and strength. And in the
+degree that you realize this wholeness, this abounding health and
+strength in yourself, will you carry it to all with whom you come in
+contact; for _we must remember that health is contagious as well as
+disease_.
+
+
+I hear it asked, What can be said in a concrete way in regard to the
+practical application of these truths, so that one can hold himself in
+the enjoyment of perfect bodily health; and more, that one may heal
+himself of any existing disease? In reply, let it be said that the
+chief thing that can be done is to point out the great underlying
+principle, and that each individual must make his own application; one
+person cannot well make this for another.
+
+First let it be said, that the very fact of one's holding the thought
+of perfect health sets into operation vital forces which will in time
+be more or less productive of the effect,--perfect health. Then
+speaking more directly in regard to the great principle itself, from
+its very nature, it is clear that more can be accomplished through the
+process of realization than through the process of affirmation, though
+for some affirmation may be a help, an aid to realization.
+
+In the degree, however, that you come into a vital realization of your
+oneness with the Infinite Spirit of Life, whence all life in individual
+form has come and is continually coming, and in the degree that through
+this realization you open yourself to its divine inflow, do you set
+into operation forces that will sooner or later bring even the physical
+body into a state of abounding health and strength. For to realize
+that this Infinite Spirit of Life can from its very nature admit of no
+disease, and to realize that this, then, is the life in you, by
+realizing your oneness with it, you can so open yourself to its more
+abundant entrance that the diseased bodily conditions--effects--will
+respond to the influences of its all-perfect power, this either quickly
+or more tardily, depending entirely upon yourself.
+
+There have been those who have been able to open themselves so fully to
+this realization that the healing has been instantaneous and permanent.
+The degree of intensity always eliminates in like degree the element of
+time. _It must, however, be a calm, quiet, and expectant intensity,
+rather than an intensity that is fearing, disturbed, and
+non-expectant_. Then there are others who have come to this
+realization by degrees.
+
+Many will receive great help, and many will be entirely healed by a
+practice somewhat after the following nature: With a mind at peace, and
+with a heart going out in love to all, go into the quiet of your own
+interior self, holding the thought,--I am one with the Infinite Spirit
+of Life, the life of my life. I then as spirit, I a spiritual being,
+can in my own real nature admit of no disease. I now open my body, in
+which disease has gotten a foothold, I open it fully to the inflowing
+tide of this Infinite Life, and it now, even now, is pouring in and
+coursing through my body, and the healing process is going on. Realize
+this so fully that you begin to feel a quickening and a warming glow
+imparted by the life forces to the body. Believe the healing process
+is going on. Believe it, and hold continually to it. Many people
+greatly desire a certain thing, but expect something else. They have
+greater faith in the power of evil than in the power of good, and hence
+remain ill.
+
+If one will give himself to this meditation, realization, treatment, or
+whatever term it may seem best to use, at stated times, as often as he
+may choose, and then _continually hold himself in the same attitude of
+mind_, thus allowing the force to work continually, he will be
+surprised how rapidly the body will be exchanging conditions of disease
+and inharmony for health and harmony. There is no particular reason,
+however, for this surprise, for in this way he is simply allowing the
+Omnipotent Power to do the work, which will have to do it ultimately in
+any case.
+
+If there is a local difficulty, and one wants to open this particular
+portion, in addition to the entire body, to this inflowing life, he can
+hold this particular portion in thought, for to fix the thought in this
+way upon any particular portion of the body stimulates or increases the
+flow of the life forces in that portion. It must always be borne in
+mind, however, that whatever healing may be thus accomplished, effects
+will not permanently cease until causes have been removed. In other
+words, _as long as there is the violation of law, so long disease and
+suffering will result_.
+
+This realization that we are considering will have an influence not
+only where there is a diseased condition of the body, but even where
+there is not this condition it will give an increased bodily life,
+vigor, and power.
+
+We have had many cases, in all times and in all countries, of healing
+through the operation of the interior forces, entirely independent of
+external agencies. Various have been the methods, or rather, various
+have been the names applied to them, but the great law underlying all
+is one and the same, and the same today. When the Master sent his
+followers forth, his injunction to them was to heal the sick and the
+afflicted, as well as to teach the people. The early church fathers
+had the power of healing, in short, it was a part of their work.
+
+And why should we not have the power today, the same as they had it
+then? Are the laws at all different? Identically the same. Why,
+then? Simply because, with a few rare exceptions here and there, we
+are unable to get beyond the mere letter of the law into its real vital
+spirit and power. It is the letter that killeth, it is the spirit that
+giveth life and power. Every soul who becomes so individualized that
+he breaks through the mere letter and enters into the real vital
+spirit, _will have the power_, as have all who have gone before, and
+when he does, he will also be the means of imparting it to others, for
+he will be one who will move and who will speak with authority.
+
+We are rapidly finding today, and we shall find even more and more, as
+time passes, that practically all disease, with its consequent
+suffering, has its origin in perverted mental and emotional states and
+conditions. _The mental attitude we take toward anything determines to
+a greater or less extent its effects upon us_. If we fear it, or if we
+antagonize it, the chances are that it will have detrimental or even
+disastrous effects upon us. If we come into harmony with it by quietly
+recognizing and inwardly asserting our superiority over it, in the
+degree that we are able successfully to do this, in that degree will it
+carry with it no injury for us.
+
+No disease can enter into or take hold of our bodies unless it find
+therein something corresponding to itself which makes it possible. And
+in the same way, no evil or undesirable condition of any kind can come
+into our lives unless there is already in them that which invites it
+and so makes it possible for it to come. The sooner we begin to look
+within ourselves for the cause of whatever comes to us, the better it
+will be, for so much the sooner will we begin to make conditions within
+ourselves such that only _good_ may enter.
+
+We, who from our very natures should be masters of all conditions, by
+virtue of our ignorance are mastered by almost numberless conditions of
+every description.
+
+Do I fear a draft? There is nothing in the draft--a little purifying
+current of God's pure air--to cause me trouble, to bring on a cold,
+perhaps an illness. The draft can affect me only in the degree that _I
+myself_ make it possible, only in the degree that I allow it to affect
+me. We must distinguish between causes and mere occasions. The draft
+is not cause, nor does it carry cause with it.
+
+Two persons are sitting in the same draft. The one is injuriously
+affected by it, the other experiences not even an inconvenience, but he
+rather enjoys it. The one is a creature of circumstances; he fears the
+draft, cringes before it, continually thinks of the harm it is doing
+him. In other words, he opens every avenue for it to enter and take
+hold of him, and so it--harmless and beneficent in itself--brings to
+him exactly what he has empowered it to bring. The other recognizes
+himself as the master over and not the creature of circumstances. He
+is not concerned about the draft. He puts himself into harmony with
+it, makes himself positive to it, and instead of experiencing any
+discomfort, he enjoys it, and in addition to its doing him a service by
+bringing the pure fresh air from without to him, it does him the
+additional service of hardening him even more to any future conditions
+of a like nature. But if the draft was cause, it would bring the same
+results to both. The fact that it does not, shows that it is not a
+cause, but a condition, and it brings to each, effects which correspond
+to the conditions it finds within each.
+
+Poor draft! How many thousands, nay millions of times it is made the
+scapegoat by those who are too ignorant or too unfair to look their own
+weaknesses square in the face, and who instead of becoming imperial
+masters, remain cringing slaves. Think of it, what it means! A man
+created in the image of the eternal God, sharer of His life and power,
+born to have dominion, fearing, shaking, cringing before a little draft
+of pure life-giving air. But scapegoats are convenient things, even if
+the only thing they do for us is to aid us in our constant efforts at
+self-delusion.
+
+The best way to disarm a draft of the bad effects it has been
+accustomed to bring one, is first to bring about a pure and healthy set
+of conditions within, then, to change one's mental attitude toward it.
+Recognize the fact that of itself it has no power, it has only the
+power you invest it with. Thus you will put yourself into harmony with
+it, and will no longer sit in fear of it. Then sit in a draft a few
+times and get hardened to it, as every one, by going at it judiciously,
+can readily do. "But suppose one is in delicate health, or especially
+subject to drafts?" Then be simply a little judicious at first; don't
+seek the strongest that can be found, especially if you do not as yet
+in your own mind feel equal to it, for if you do not, it signifies that
+you still fear it. That supreme regulator of all life, _good common
+sense_, must be used here, the same as elsewhere.
+
+If we are born to have dominion, and that we are is demonstrated by the
+fact that some have attained to it,--and what one _has_ done, soon or
+late all _can_ do,--then it is not necessary that we live under the
+domination of any physical agent. In the degree that we recognize our
+own interior powers, then are we rulers and able to dictate; in the
+degree that we fail to recognize them, we are slaves, and are dictated
+to. We build whatever we find within us; we attract whatever comes to
+us, and all in accordance with spiritual law, for all natural law is
+spiritual law.
+
+The whole of human life is cause and effect; there is no such thing in
+it as chance, nor is there even in all the wide universe. Are we not
+satisfied with whatever comes into our lives? The thing to do, then,
+is not to spend time in railing against the imaginary something we
+create and call fate, but to look to the within, and change the causes
+at work there, in order that things of a different nature may come, for
+there will come exactly what we cause to come. This is true not only
+of the physical body, but of all phases and conditions of life. We
+invite whatever comes, and did we not invite it, either consciously or
+unconsciously, it could not and it would not come. This may
+undoubtedly be hard for some to believe, or even to see, at first. But
+in the degree that one candidly and open-mindedly looks at it, and then
+studies into the silent, but subtle and, so to speak, omnipotent
+workings of the thought forces, and as he traces their effects within
+him and about him, it becomes clearly evident, and easy to understand.
+
+And then whatever does come to one depends for its effects entirely
+upon his mental attitude toward it. Does this or that occurrence or
+condition cause you annoyance? Very well; it causes you annoyance, and
+so disturbs your peace merely because you allow it to. You are born to
+have absolute control over your own dominion, but if you voluntarily
+hand over this power, even if for a little while, to some one or to
+some thing else, then you of course, become the creature, the one
+controlled.
+
+To live undisturbed by passing occurrences you must first find your own
+centre. You must then be firm in your own centre, and so rule the
+world from within. He who does not himself condition circumstances
+allows the process to be reversed, and becomes a conditioned
+circumstance. Find your centre and live in it. Surrender it to no
+person, to no thing. In the degree that you do this will you find
+yourself growing stronger and stronger in it. And how can one find his
+centre? By realizing his oneness with the Infinite Power, and by
+living continually in this realization.
+
+But if you do not rule from your own centre, if you invest this or that
+with the power of bringing you annoyance, or evil, or harm, then take
+what it brings, but cease your railings against the eternal goodness
+and beneficence of all things.
+
+ "I swear the earth shall surely be complete
+ To him or her who shall be complete;
+ The earth remains jagged and broken
+ Only to him who remains jagged and broken."
+
+
+If the windows of your soul are dirty and streaked, covered with matter
+foreign to them, then the world as you look out of them will be to you
+dirty and streaked and out of order. Cease your complainings, however;
+keep your pessimism, your "poor, unfortunate me" to yourself, lest you
+betray the fact that your windows are badly in need of something. But
+know that your friend, who keeps his windows clean, that the Eternal
+Sun may illumine all within and make visible all without,--know that he
+lives in a different world from yours.
+
+Then, go wash your windows, and instead of longing for some other
+world, you will discover the wonderful beauties of this world; and if
+you don't find transcendent beauties on every hand here, the chances
+are that you will never find them anywhere.
+
+ "The poem hangs on the berry-bush
+ When comes the poet's eye,
+ And the whole street is a masquerade
+ When Shakspeare passes by."
+
+
+This same Shakspeare, whose mere passing causes all this commotion, is
+the one who put into the mouth of one of his creations the words: "The
+fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are
+underlings." And the great work of his own life is right good evidence
+that he realized full well the truth of the facts we are considering.
+And again he gave us a great truth in keeping with what we are
+considering when he said:
+
+ "Our doubts are traitors,
+ And make us lose the good we oft might win
+ By _fearing_ to attempt."
+
+
+There is probably no agent that brings us more undesirable conditions
+than fear. We should live in fear of nothing, nor will we when we come
+fully to know ourselves. An old French proverb runs
+
+ "Some of your griefs you have cured,
+ And the sharpest you still have survived;
+ But what _torments of pain_ you endured
+ From evils that never arrived."
+
+
+Fear and lack of faith go hand in hand. The one is born of the other.
+Tell me how much one is given to fear, and I will tell you how much he
+lacks in faith. Fear is a most expensive guest to entertain, the same
+as worry is: so expensive are they that no one can afford to entertain
+them. _We invite what we fear, the same as, by a different attitude of
+mind, we invite and attract the influences and conditions we desire_.
+The mind dominated by fear opens the door for the entrance of the very
+things, for the actualization of the very conditions it fears.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked an Eastern pilgrim on meeting the plague
+one day. "I am going to Bagdad to kill five thousand people," was the
+reply. A few days later the same pilgrim met the plague returning.
+"You told me you were going to Bagdad to kill five thousand people,"
+said he, "but instead, you killed fifty thousand." "No," said the
+plague. "_I killed only five thousand_, as I told you I would; _the
+others died of fright_."
+
+Fear can paralyze every muscle in the body. Fear affects the flow of
+the blood, likewise the normal and healthy action of all the life
+forces. Fear can make the body rigid, motionless, and powerless to
+move.
+
+Not only do we attract to ourselves the things we fear, but we also aid
+in attracting to others the conditions we in our own minds hold them in
+fear of. This we do in proportion to the strength of our own thought,
+and in the degree that they are sensitively organized and so influenced
+by our thought, and this, although it be unconscious both on their part
+and on ours.
+
+Children, and especially when very young, are, generally speaking, more
+sensitive to their surrounding influences than grown people are. Some
+are veritable little sensitive plates, registering the influences about
+them, and embodying them as they grow. How careful in their prevailing
+mental states then should be those who have them in charge, and
+especially how careful should a mother be during the time she is
+carrying the child, and when every thought, every mental as well as
+emotional state has its direct influence upon the life of the unborn
+child. Let parents be careful how they hold a child, either younger or
+older, in the thought of fear. This is many times done, unwittingly on
+their part, through anxiety, and at times through what might well be
+termed over-care, which is fully as bad as under-care.
+
+I know of a number of cases where a child has been so continually held
+in the thought of fear lest this or that condition come upon him, that
+the very things that were feared have been drawn to him, which probably
+otherwise never would have come at all. Many times there has been no
+adequate basis for the fear. In case there is a basis, then far wiser
+is it to take exactly the opposite attitude, so as to neutralize the
+force at work, and then to hold the child in the thought of wisdom and
+strength that it may be able to meet the condition and master it,
+instead of being mastered by it.
+
+But a day or two ago a friend was telling me of an experience of his
+own life in this connection. At a period when he was having a terrific
+struggle with a certain habit, he was so continually held in the
+thought of fear by his mother and the young lady to whom he was
+engaged,--the engagement to be consummated at the end of a certain
+period, the time depending on his proving his mastery,--that he, very
+sensitively organized, _continually_ felt the depressing and weakening
+effects of their negative thoughts. He could always tell exactly how
+they felt toward him; he was continually influenced and weakened by
+their fear, by their questionings, by their suspicions, all of which
+had the effect of lessening the sense of his own power, all of which
+had an endeavor-paralyzing influence upon him. And so instead of their
+begetting courage and strength in him, they brought him to a still
+greater realization of his own weakness and the almost worthless use of
+struggle.
+
+Here were two who loved him dearly, and who would have done anything
+and everything to help him gain the mastery, but who, ignorant of the
+silent, subtle, ever-working and all-telling power of the thought
+forces, instead of imparting to him courage, instead of adding to his
+strength, disarmed him of this, and then added an additional weakness
+from without. In this way the battle for him was made harder in a
+three-fold degree.
+
+Fear and worry and all kindred mental states are too expensive for any
+person, man, woman, or child, to entertain or indulge in. Fear
+paralyzes healthy action, worry corrodes and pulls down the organism,
+and will finally tear it to pieces. Nothing is to be gained by it, but
+everything to be lost. Long-continued grief at any loss will do the
+same. Each brings its own peculiar type of ailment. An inordinate
+love of gain, a close-fisted, hoarding disposition will have kindred
+effects. Anger, jealousy, malice, continual fault-finding, lust, has
+each its own peculiar corroding, weakening, tearing-down effects.
+
+We shall find that not only are happiness and prosperity concomitants
+of righteousness,--living in harmony with the higher laws, but bodily
+health as well. The great Hebrew seer enunciated a wonderful chemistry
+of life when he said,--"As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that
+pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death." On the other hand, "In
+the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is
+no death." The time will come when it will be seen that this means far
+more than most people dare _even to think as yet_. "It rests with man
+to say whether his soul shall be housed in a stately mansion of
+ever-growing splendor and beauty, or in a hovel of his own building,--a
+hovel at last ruined and abandoned to decay."
+
+The bodies of almost untold numbers, living their one-sided, unbalanced
+lives, are every year, through these influences, weakening and falling
+by the wayside long before their time. Poor, poor houses! Intended to
+be beautiful temples, brought to desolation by their ignorant,
+reckless, deluded tenants. Poor houses!
+
+
+A close observer, a careful student of the power of the thought forces,
+will soon be able to read in the voice, in the movements, in the
+features, the effects registered by the prevailing mental states and
+conditions. Or, if he is told the prevailing mental states and
+conditions, he can describe the voice, the movements, the features, as
+well as describe, in a general way, the peculiar physical ailments
+their possessor is heir to.
+
+We are told by good authority that a study of the human body, its
+structure, and the length of time it takes it to come to maturity, in
+comparison with the time it takes the bodies of various animals and
+their corresponding longevity, reveals the fact that its natural age
+should be nearer a hundred and twenty years than what we commonly find
+it today. But think of the multitudes all about us whose bodies are
+aging, weakening, breaking, so that they have to abandon them long
+before they reach what ought to be a long period of strong, vigorous
+middle life.
+
+Then, the natural length of life being thus shortened, it comes to be
+what we might term a race belief that this shortened period is the
+natural period. And as a consequence many, when they approach a
+certain age, seeing that as a rule people at this period of life begin
+to show signs of age, to break and go down hill as we say, they,
+thinking it a matter of course and that it must be the same with them,
+by taking this attitude of mind, many times bring upon themselves these
+very conditions long before it is necessary. Subtle and powerful are
+the influences of the mind in the building and rebuilding of the body.
+As we understand them better it may become the custom for people to
+look forward with pleasure to the teens of their second century.
+
+There comes to mind at this moment a friend, a lady well on to eighty
+years of age. An old lady, some, most people in fact, would call her,
+especially those who measure age by the number of the seasons that have
+come and gone since one's birth. But to call our friend old, would be
+to call black white. She is no older than a girl of twenty-five, and
+indeed younger, I am glad to say, or I am sorry to say, depending upon
+the point of view, than _many_ a girl of this age. Seeking for the
+good in all people and in all things, she has found the good
+everywhere. The brightness of disposition and of voice that is hers
+today, that attracts all people to her and that makes her so
+beautifully attractive to all people, has characterized her all through
+life. It has in turn carried brightness and hope and courage and
+strength to hundreds and thousands of people through all these years,
+and will continue to do so, apparently, for many years yet to come.
+
+No fears, no worryings, no hatreds, no jealousies, no sorrowings, no
+grievings, no sordid graspings after inordinant [Transcriber's note:
+inordinate?] gain, have found entrance into her realm of thought. As a
+consequence her mind, free from these abnormal states and conditions,
+has not externalized in her body the various physical ailments that the
+great majority of people are lugging about with them, thinking in their
+ignorance, that they are natural, and that it is all in accordance with
+the "eternal order of things" that they should have them. Her life has
+been one of varied experiences, so that all these things would have
+found ready entrance into the realm of her mind and so into her life
+were she ignorant enough to allow them entrance. On the contrary she
+has been wise enough to recognize the fact that in one kingdom at least
+she is ruler,--the kingdom of her mind, and that it is hers to dictate
+as to what shall and what shall not enter there. She knows, moreover,
+that in determining this she is determining all the conditions of her
+life. It is indeed a pleasure as well as an inspiration to see her as
+she goes here and there, to see her sunny disposition, her youthful
+step, to hear her joyous laughter. Indeed and in truth, Shakspeare
+knew whereof he spoke when he said,--"It is the mind that makes the
+body rich."
+
+With great pleasure I watched her but recently as she was walking along
+the street, stopping to have a word and so a part in the lives of a
+group of children at play by the wayside, hastening her step a little
+to have a word with a washerwoman toting her bundle of clothes,
+stopping for a word with a laboring man returning with dinner pail in
+hand from his work, returning the recognition from the lady in her
+carriage, and so imparting some of her own rich life to all with whom
+she came in contact.
+
+And as good fortune would have it, while still watching her, an old
+lady passed her,--really old, this one, though at least ten or fifteen
+years younger, so far as the count by the seasons is concerned.
+Nevertheless she was bent in form and apparently stiff in joint and
+muscle. Silent in mood, she wore a countenance of long-faced sadness,
+which was intensified surely several fold by a black, sombre headgear
+with an immense heavy veil still more sombre looking if possible. Her
+entire dress was of this description. By this relic-of-barbarism garb,
+combined with her own mood and expression, she continually proclaimed
+to the world two things,--her own personal sorrows and woes, which by
+this very method she kept continually fresh in her mind, and also her
+lack of faith in the eternal goodness of things, her lack of faith in
+the love and eternal goodness of the Infinite Father.
+
+Wrapped only in the thoughts of her own ailments, and sorrows, and
+woes, she received and she gave nothing of joy, nothing of hope,
+nothing of courage, nothing of value to those whom she passed or with
+whom she came in contact. But on the contrary she suggested to all and
+helped to intensify in many, those mental states all too prevalent in
+our common human life. And as she passed our friend one could notice a
+slight turn of the head which, coupled with the expression in her face,
+seemed to indicate this as her thought,--Your dress and your conduct
+are not wholly in keeping with a lady of your years. Thank God, then,
+thank God they are not. And may He in His great goodness and love send
+us an innumerable company of the same rare type; and may they live a
+thousand years to bless mankind, to impart the life-giving influences
+of their own royal lives to the numerous ones all about us who stand so
+much in need of them.
+
+Would you remain always young, and would you carry all the joyousness
+and buoyancy of youth into your maturer years? Then have care
+concerning but one thing,--how you live in your thought world. This
+will determine all. It was the inspired one, Gautama, the Buddha, who
+said,--"The mind is everything; what you think you become." And the
+same thing had Ruskin in mind when he said,--"Make yourself nests of
+pleasant thoughts. None of us as yet know, for none of us have been
+taught in early youth, what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful
+thought,--_proof against all adversity_."
+
+And would you have in your body all the elasticity, all the strength,
+all the beauty of your younger years? Then live these in your mind,
+making no room for unclean thought, and you will externalize them in
+your body. In the degree that you keep young in thought will you
+remain young in body. And you will find that your body will in turn
+aid your mind, for body helps mind the same as mind builds body.
+
+You are continually building, and so externalizing in your body
+conditions most akin to the thoughts and emotions you entertain. And
+not only are you so building from within, but you are also continually
+drawing from without, forces of a kindred nature. Your particular kind
+of thought connects you with a similar order of thought from without.
+If it is bright, hopeful, cheerful, you connect yourself with a current
+of thought of this nature. If it is sad, fearing, despondent, then
+this is the order of thought you connect yourself with.
+
+If the latter is the order of your thought, then perhaps unconsciously
+and by degrees you have been connecting yourself with it. You need to
+go back and pick up again a part of your child nature, with its
+careless and cheerful type of thought. "The minds of the group of
+children at play are unconsciously concentrated in drawing to their
+bodies a current of playful thought. Place a child by itself, deprive
+it of its companions, and soon it will mope and become slow of
+movement. It is cut off from that peculiar thought current and is
+literally 'out of its element.'
+
+"You need to bring again this current of playful thought to you which
+has gradually been turned off. You are too serious or sad, or absorbed
+in the serious affairs of life. You can be playful and cheerful
+without being puerile or silly. You can carry on business all the
+better for being in the playful mood when your mind is off your
+business. There is nothing but ill resulting from the permanent mood
+of sadness and seriousness,--the mood which by many so long maintained
+makes it actually difficult for them to smile at all.
+
+"At eighteen or twenty you commenced growing out of the more playful
+tendency of early youth. You took hold of the more serious side of
+life. You went into some business. You became more or less involved
+in its cares, perplexities and responsibilities. Or, as man or woman,
+you entered on some phase of life involving care or trouble. Or you
+became absorbed in some game of business which, as you followed it,
+left no time for play. Then as you associated with older people you
+absorbed their old ideas, their mechanical methods of thinking, their
+acceptance of errors without question or thought of question. In all
+this you opened your mind to a heavy, care-laden current of thought.
+Into this you glided unconsciously. That thought is materialized in
+your blood and flesh. The seen of your body is a deposit or
+crystallization of the unseen element ever flowing to your body from
+your mind. Years pass on and you find that your movements are stiff
+and cumbrous,--that you can with difficulty climb a tree, as at
+fourteen. Your mind has all this time been sending to your body these
+heavy, inelastic elements, making your body what now it is. . . .
+
+"Your change for the better must be gradual, and can only be
+accomplished by bringing the thought current of an all-round
+symmetrical strength to bear on it,--by demanding of the Supreme Power
+to be led in the best way, by diverting your mind from the many
+unhealthy thoughts which habitually have been flowing into it without
+your knowing it, to healthier ones. . . .
+
+"Like the beast, the bodies of those of our race have in the past
+weakened and decayed. This will not always be. Increase of spiritual
+knowledge will show the cause of such decay, and will show, also, how
+to take advantage of a Law or Force to build us up, renew ever the body
+and give it greater and greater strength, instead of blindly using that
+Law or Force, as has been done in the past, to weaken our bodies and
+finally destroy them."
+
+
+Full, rich, and abounding health is the normal and the natural
+condition of life. Anything else is an abnormal condition, and
+abnormal conditions as a rule come through perversions. God never
+created sickness, suffering, and disease; they are man's own creations.
+They come through his violating the laws under which he lives. So used
+are we to seeing them that we come gradually, if not to think of them
+as natural, then to look upon them as a matter of course.
+
+The time will come when the work of the physician will not be to treat
+and attempt to heal the body, but to heal the mind, which in turn will
+heal the body. In other words, the true physician will be a teacher;
+his work will be to keep people well, instead of attempting to make
+them well after sickness and disease comes on; and still beyond this
+there will come a time when each will be his own physician. In the
+degree that we live in harmony with the higher laws of our being, and
+so, in the degree that we become better acquainted with the powers of
+the mind and spirit, will we give less attention to the body,--no less
+_care_, but less _attention_.
+
+The bodies of thousands today would be much better cared for if their
+owners gave them less thought and attention. As a rule, those who
+think least of their bodies enjoy the best health. Many are kept in
+continual ill health by the abnormal thought and attention they give
+them.
+
+Give the body the nourishment, the exercise, the fresh air, the
+sunlight it requires, keep it clean, and then think of it as little as
+possible. In your thoughts and in your conversation never dwell upon
+the negative side. Don't talk of sickness and disease. By talking of
+these you do yourself harm and you do harm to those who listen to you.
+Talk of those things that will make people the better for listening to
+you. Thus you will infect them with health and strength and not with
+weakness and disease.
+
+To dwell upon the negative side is always destructive. This is true of
+the body the same as it is true of all other things. The following
+from one whose thorough training as a physician has been supplemented
+by extensive study and observations along the lines of the powers of
+the interior forces, are of special significance and value in this
+connection: "We can never gain health by contemplating disease, any
+more than we can reach perfection by dwelling upon imperfection, or
+harmony through discord. We should keep a high ideal of health and
+harmony constantly before the mind. . . .
+
+"Never affirm or repeat about your health what you do not wish to be
+true. Do not dwell upon your ailments, nor study your symptoms. Never
+allow yourself to be convinced that you are not complete master of
+yourself. Stoutly affirm your superiority over bodily ills, and do not
+acknowledge yourself the slave of any inferior power. . . . I would
+teach children early to build a strong barrier between themselves and
+disease, by healthy habits of thought, high thinking, and purity of
+life. I would teach them to expel all thoughts of death, all images of
+disease, all discordant emotions, like hatred, malice, revenge, envy,
+and sensuality, as they would banish a temptation to do evil. I would
+teach them that bad food, bad drink, or bad air makes bad blood; that
+bad blood makes bad tissue, and bad flesh bad morals. I would teach
+them that healthy thoughts are as essential to healthy bodies as pure
+thoughts to a clean life. I would teach them to cultivate a strong
+will power, and to brace themselves against life's enemies in every
+possible way. I would teach the sick to have hope, confidence, cheer.
+Our thoughts and imaginations are the only real limits to our
+possibilities. No man's success or health will ever reach beyond his
+own confidence; as a rule, we erect our own barriers.
+
+"Like produces like the universe through. Hatred, envy, malice,
+jealousy, and revenge all have children. Every bad thought breeds
+others, and each of these goes on and on, ever reproducing itself,
+until our world is peopled with their offspring. The true physician
+and parent of the future will not medicate the body with drugs so much
+as the mind with principles. The coming mother will teach her child to
+assuage the fever of anger, hatred, malice, with the great panacea of
+the world,--Love. The coming physician will teach the people to
+cultivate cheerfulness, good-will, and noble deeds for a health tonic
+as well as a heart tonic; and that a merry heart doeth good like a
+medicine."
+
+
+The health of your body, the same as the health and strength of your
+mind, depends upon what you relate yourself with. This Infinite Spirit
+of Life, this Source of all Life, can from its very nature, we have
+found, admit of no weakness, no disease. Come then into the full,
+conscious, vital realization of your oneness with this Infinite Life,
+open yourself to its more abundant entrance, and full and ever-renewing
+bodily health and strength will be yours.
+
+ "And good may ever conquer ill,
+ Health walk where pain has trod;
+ 'As a man thinketh, so is he,'
+ Rise, then, and think with God."
+
+
+The whole matter may then be summed up in the one sentence, "God is
+well and so are you." You must awaken to the knowledge of your _real
+being_. When this awakening comes, you will have, and you will see
+that you have, the power to determine what conditions are externalized
+in your body. You must recognize, you must realize yourself as one
+with Infinite Spirit. God's will is then your will; your will is God's
+will, and "with God all things are possible." When we are able to do
+away with all sense of separateness by living continually in the
+realization of this oneness, not only will our bodily ills and
+weaknesses vanish, but all limitations along all lines.
+
+Then "delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires
+of thine heart." Then will you feel like crying all the day long, "The
+lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly
+heritage." Drop out of mind your belief in good things and good events
+coming to you in the future. Come _now_ into the real life, and
+coming, appropriate and actualize them _now_. Remember that only the
+best is good enough for one with a heritage so royal as yours.
+
+ "We buy ashes for bread;
+ We buy diluted wine;
+ Give me the true,--
+ Whose ample leaves and tendrils curled
+ Among the silver hills of heaven,
+ Draw everlasting dew."
+
+
+
+
+THE SECRET, POWER, AND EFFECTS OF LOVE.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Love. The moment we recognize ourselves
+as one with it we become so filled with love that we see only the good
+in all. And when we realize that we are all one with this Infinite
+Spirit, then we realize that in a sense we are all one with each other.
+When we come into a recognition of this fact, we can then do no harm to
+any one, to any thing. We find that we are all members of the one
+great body, and that no portion of the body can be harmed without all
+the other portions suffering thereby.
+
+When we fully realize the great fact of the oneness of all life,--that
+all are partakers from this one Infinite Source, and so that the same
+life is the life in each individual, then prejudices go and hatreds
+cease. Love grows and reigns supreme. Then, wherever we go, whenever
+we come in contact with the fellow-man, we are able to recognize the
+God within. We thus look only for the good, and we find it. It always
+pays.
+
+There is a deep scientific fact underlying the great truth, "He that
+takes the sword shall perish by the sword." The moment we come into a
+realization of the subtle powers of the thought forces, we can quickly
+see that the moment we entertain any thoughts of hatred toward another,
+he gets the effects of these diabolical forces that go out from us, and
+has the same thoughts of hatred aroused in him, which in turn return to
+the sender. Then when we understand the effects of the passion, hatred
+or anger, even upon the physical body, we can see how detrimental, how
+expensive this is. The same is true in regard to all kindred thoughts
+or passions, envy, criticism, jealousy, scorn. In the ultimate we
+shall find that in entertaining feelings of this nature toward another,
+we always suffer far more than the one toward whom we entertain them.
+
+And then when we fully realize the fact that selfishness is at the root
+of all error, sin, and crime, and that ignorance is the basis of all
+selfishness, with what charity we come to look upon the acts of all.
+It is the ignorant man who seeks his own ends at the expense of the
+greater whole. It is the ignorant man, therefore, who is the selfish
+man. The truly wise man is never selfish. He is a seer, and
+recognizes the fact that he, a single member of the one great body, is
+benefited in just the degree that the entire body is benefited, and so
+he seeks nothing for himself that he would not equally seek for all
+mankind.
+
+If selfishness is at the bottom of all error, sin, and crime, and
+ignorance is the basis of all selfishness, then when we see a
+manifestation of either of these qualities, if we are true to the
+highest within us, we will look for and will seek to call forth the
+good in each individual with whom we come in contact. When God speaks
+to God, then God responds, and shows forth as God. But when devil
+speaks to devil, then devil responds, and the devil is always to pay.
+
+I sometimes hear a person say, "I don't see any good in him." No?
+Then you are no seer. Look deeper and you will find the very God in
+every human soul. But remember it takes a God to recognize a God.
+Christ always spoke to the highest, the truest, and the best in men.
+He knew and he recognized the God in each because he had first realized
+it in himself. He ate with publicans and sinners. Abominable, the
+Scribes and Pharisees said. They were so wrapped up in their own
+conceits, their own self-centredness, hence their own ignorance, that
+they had never found the God in themselves, and so they never dreamed
+that it was the real life of even publicans and sinners.
+
+In the degree that we hold a person in the thought of evil or of error,
+do we suggest evil and error to him. In the degree that he is
+sensitively organized, or not well individualized, and so, subject to
+the suggestions of the thought forces from others, will he be
+influenced; and so in this way we may be sharers in the very evil-doing
+in which we hold another in thought. In the same way when we hold a
+person in the thought of the right, the good, and the true,
+righteousness, goodness, and truth are suggested to him, and thus we
+have a most beneficent influence on his life and conduct. If our
+hearts go out in love to all with whom we come in contact, we inspire
+love, and the same ennobling and warming influences of love always
+return to us from those in whom we inspire them. There is a deep
+scientific principle underlying the precept--If you would have all the
+world love you, you must first love all the world.
+
+In the degree that we love will we be loved. Thoughts are forces.
+Each creates of its kind. Each comes back laden with the effect that
+corresponds to itself and of which it is the cause.
+
+ "Then let your secret thoughts be fair--
+ They have a vital part, and share
+ In shaping words and moulding fate;
+ God's system is so intricate."
+
+
+I know of no better practice than that of a friend who continually
+holds himself in an attitude of mind that he continually sends out his
+love in the form of the thought,--"Dear everybody, I love you." And
+when we realize the fact that a thought invariably produces its effect
+before it returns, or before it ceases, we can see how he is
+continually breathing out a blessing not only upon all with whom he
+comes in contact, but upon all the world. These same thoughts of love,
+moreover, tokened in various ways, are continually coming to him from
+all quarters.
+
+Even animals feel the effects of these forces. Some animals are much
+more sensitively organized than many people are, and consequently they
+get the effects of our thoughts, our mental states, and emotions much
+more readily than many people do. Therefore whenever we meet an animal
+we can do it good by sending out to it these thoughts of love. It will
+feel the effects whether we simply entertain or whether we voice them.
+And it is often interesting to note how quickly it responds, and how
+readily it gives evidence of its appreciation of this love and
+consideration on our part.
+
+What a privilege and how enjoyable it would be to live and walk in a
+world where we meet only Gods. In such a world you can live. In such
+a world I can live. For in the degree that we come into this higher
+realization do we see only the God in each human soul; and when we are
+thus able to see Him in every one we meet, we then live in such a world.
+
+And when we thus recognize the God in every one, we by this recognition
+help to call it forth ever more and more. What a privilege,--this
+privilege of yours, this privilege of mine! That hypocritical judging
+of another is something then with which we can have nothing to do; for
+we have the power of looking beyond the evolving, changing,
+error-making self, and seeing the real, the changeless, the eternal
+self which by and by will show forth in the full beauty of holiness.
+We are then large enough also to realize the fact that when we condemn
+another, by that very act we condemn ourselves.
+
+This realization so fills us with love that we continually overflow it,
+and all with whom we come in contact feel its warming and life-giving
+power. These in turn send back the same feelings of love to us, and so
+we continually attract love from all quarters. Tell me how much one
+loves and I will tell you how much he has seen of God. Tell me how
+much he loves and I will tell you how much he lives with God. Tell me
+how much he loves and I will tell you how far into the Kingdom of
+Heaven,--the kingdom of harmony, he has entered, for "love is the
+fulfilling of the law."
+
+And in a sense love is everything. It is the key to life, and its
+influences are those that move the world. Live only in the thought of
+love for all and you will draw love to you from all. Live in the
+thought of malice or hatred, and malice and hatred will come back to
+you.
+
+ "For evil poisons; malice shafts
+ Like boomerangs return,
+ Inflicting wounds that will not heal
+ While rage and anger burn."
+
+
+Every thought you entertain is a force that goes out, and every thought
+comes back laden with its kind. This is an immutable law. Every
+thought you entertain has moreover a direct effect upon your body.
+Love and its kindred emotions are the normal and the natural, those in
+accordance with the eternal order of the universe, for "God is love."
+These have a life-giving, health-engendering influence upon your body,
+besides beautifying your countenance, enriching your voice, and making
+you ever more attractive in every way. And as it is true that in the
+degree that you hold thoughts of love for all, you call the same from
+them in return, and as these have a direct effect upon your mind, and
+through your mind upon your body, it is as so much life force added to
+your own from without. You are then continually building this into
+both your mental and your physical life, and so your life is enriched
+by its influence.
+
+Hatred and all its kindred emotions are the unnatural, the abnormal,
+the perversions, and so, out of harmony with the eternal order of the
+universe. For if love is the fulfilling of the law, then these, its
+opposites, are direct violations of law, and there can never be a
+violation of law without its attendant pain and suffering in one form
+or another. There is no escape from this. And what is the result of
+this particular form of violation? When you allow thoughts of anger,
+hatred, malice, jealousy, envy, criticism, or scorn to exercise sway,
+they have a corroding and poisoning effect upon the organism; they pull
+it down, and if allowed to continue will eventually tear it to pieces
+by externalizing themselves in the particular forms of disease they
+give rise to. And then in addition to the destructive influences from
+your own mind you are continually calling the same influences from
+other minds, and these come as destructive forces augmenting your own,
+thus aiding in the tearing down process.
+
+And so love inspires love; hatred breeds hatred. Love and good will
+stimulate and build up the body; hatred and malice corrode and tear it
+down. Love is a savor of life unto life; hatred is a savor of death
+unto death.
+
+ "There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,
+ There are souls that are pure and true;
+ Then give to the world the best you have,
+ And the best will come back to you.
+
+ "Give love, and love to _your_ heart will flow,
+ A strength in your utmost need;
+ Have faith, and a score of hearts will show
+ Their faith in _your_ word and deed."
+
+
+I hear it said,--How in regard to one who bears me hatred, towards whom
+I have entertained no such thoughts and feelings, and so have not been
+the cause of his becoming my enemy? This may be true, but the chances
+are that you will have but few enemies if there is nothing of an
+antagonistic nature in your own mind and heart. Be sure there is
+nothing of this nature. But if hatred should come from another without
+apparent cause on your part, then meet it from first to last with
+thoughts of love and good-will. In this way you can, so to speak, so
+neutralize its effects that it cannot reach you and so cannot harm you.
+Love is positive, and stronger than hatred. Hatred can always be
+conquered by love.
+
+On the other hand, if you meet hatred with hatred, you simply intensify
+it. You add fuel to the flame already kindled, upon which it will feed
+and grow, and so you increase and intensify the evil conditions.
+Nothing is to be gained by it, everything is to be lost. By sending
+love for hatred you will be able so to neutralize it that it will not
+only have no effect upon you, but will not be able even to reach you.
+But more than this, you will by this course sooner or later be able
+literally to transmute the enemy into the friend. Meet hatred with
+hatred and you degrade yourself. Meet hatred with love and you elevate
+not only yourself but also the one who bears you hatred.
+
+The Persian sage has said, "Always meet petulance with gentleness, and
+perverseness with kindness. A gentle hand can lead even an elephant by
+a hair. Reply to thine enemy with gentleness. Opposition to peace is
+sin." The Buddhist says, "If a man foolishly does me wrong I will
+return him the protection of my ungrudging love. The more evil comes
+from him the more good shall go from me." "The wise man avenges
+injuries by benefits," says the Chinese. "Return good for evil,
+overcome anger by love; hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love,"
+says the Hindu.
+
+The truly wise man or woman will recognize no one as an enemy.
+Occasionally we hear the expression, "Never mind; I'll get even with
+him." Will you? And how will you do it? You can do it in one of two
+ways. You can, as you have in mind, deal with him as he deals, or
+apparently deals, with you,--pay him, as we say, in his own coin. If
+you do this you will get even with him by sinking yourself to his
+level, and both of you will suffer by it. Or, you can show yourself
+the larger, you can send him love for hatred, kindness for
+ill-treatment, and so get even with him by raising him to the higher
+level. But remember that you can never help another without by that
+very act helping yourself; and if forgetful of self, then in most all
+cases the value to you is greater than the service you render another.
+If you are ready to treat him as he treats you, then you show clearly
+that there is in you that which draws the hatred and ill-treatment to
+you; you deserve what you are getting and should not complain, nor
+would you complain if you were wise. By following the other course you
+most effectually accomplish your purpose,--you gain a victory for
+yourself, and at the same time you do a great service for him, for
+which it is evident he stands greatly in need.
+
+Thus you may become his saviour. He in turn may become the saviour of
+other error-making, and consequently care-encumbered men and women.
+Many times the struggles are greater than we can ever know. We need
+more gentleness and sympathy and compassion in our common human life.
+Then we will neither blame nor condemn. Instead of blaming or
+condemning we will sympathize, and all the more we will
+
+ "Comfort one another,
+ For the way is often dreary,
+ And the feet are often weary,
+ And the heart is very sad.
+ There is a heavy burden bearing,
+ When it seems that none are caring,
+ And we half forget that ever we were glad
+
+ "Comfort one another
+ With the hand-clasp close and tender,
+ With the sweetness love can render,
+ And the looks of friendly eyes.
+ Do not wait with grace unspoken,
+ While life's daily bread is broken--
+ Gentle speech is oft like manna from the skies."
+
+
+When we come fully to realize the great fact that all evil and error
+and sin with all their consequent sufferings come through ignorance,
+then wherever we see a manifestation of these in whatever form, if our
+hearts are right, we will have compassion, sympathy and compassion for
+the one in whom we see them. Compassion will then change itself into
+love, and love will manifest itself in kindly service. Such is the
+divine method. And so instead of aiding in trampling and keeping a
+weaker one down, we will hold him up until he can stand alone and
+become the master. But all life-growth is from within out, and one
+becomes a true master in the degree that the knowledge of the divinity
+of his own nature dawns upon his inner consciousness and so brings him
+to a knowledge of the higher laws; and in no way can we so effectually
+hasten this dawning in the inner consciousness of another, as by
+showing forth the divinity within ourselves simply by the way we live.
+
+By example and not by precept. By living, not by preaching. By doing,
+not by professing. By living the life, not by dogmatizing as to how it
+should be lived. There is no contagion equal to the contagion of life.
+Whatever we sow, that shall we also reap, and each thing sown produces
+of its kind. We can kill not only by doing another bodily injury
+directly, but we can and we do kill by every antagonistic thought. Not
+only do we thus kill, but while we kill we suicide. Many a man has
+been made sick by having the ill thoughts of a number of people centred
+upon him; some have been actually killed. Put hatred into the world
+and we make it a literal hell. Put love into the world and heaven with
+all its beauties and glories becomes a reality.
+
+Not to love is not to live, or it is to live a living death. The life
+that goes out in love to all is the life that is full, and rich, and
+continually expanding in beauty and in power. Such is the life that
+becomes ever more inclusive, and hence larger in its scope and
+influence. The larger the man and the woman, the more inclusive they
+are in their love and their friendships. The smaller the man and the
+woman, the more dwarfed and dwindling their natures, the more they
+pride themselves upon their "exclusiveness." Any one--a fool or an
+idiot--can be exclusive. It comes easy. It takes and it signifies a
+large nature to be universal, to be inclusive. Only the man or the
+woman of a small, personal, self-centred, self-seeking nature is
+exclusive. The man or the woman of a large, royal, unself-centred
+nature never is. The small nature is the one that continually strives
+for effect. The larger nature never does. The one goes here and there
+in order to gain recognition, in order to attach himself to the world.
+The other stays at home and draws the world _to him_. The one loves
+merely himself. The other loves all the world; but in his larger love
+for all the world he finds himself included.
+
+Verily, then, the more one loves the nearer he approaches to God, for
+God is the spirit of infinite love. And when we come into the
+realization of our oneness with this Infinite Spirit, then divine love
+so fills us that, enriching and enrapturing our own lives, from them it
+flows out to enrich the life of all the world.
+
+In coming into the realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life,
+we are brought at once into right relations with our fellowmen. We are
+brought into harmony with the great law, that we find our own lives in
+losing them in the service of others. We are brought to a knowledge of
+the fact that all life is one, and so that we are all parts of the one
+great whole. We then realize that we can't do for another without at
+the same time doing for ourselves. We also realize that we cannot do
+harm to another without by that very act doing harm to ourselves. We
+realize that the man who lives to himself alone lives a little,
+dwarfed, and stunted life, because he has no part in this larger life
+of humanity. But the one who in service loses his own life in this
+larger life, has his own life increased and enriched a thousand or a
+million fold, and every joy, every happiness, everything of value
+coming to each member of this greater whole comes as such to him, for
+he has a part in the life of each and all.
+
+And here let a word be said in regard to true service. Peter and John
+were one day going up to the temple, and as they were entering the gate
+they were met by a poor cripple who asked them for alms. Instead of
+giving him something to supply the day's needs and then leaving him in
+the same dependent condition for the morrow and the morrow, Peter did
+him a real service, and a real service for all mankind by saying,
+Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give unto thee. _And
+then he made him whole_. He thus brought him into the condition where
+he could help himself. In other words, the greatest service we can do
+for another is to help him to help himself. To help him directly might
+be weakening, though not necessarily. It depends entirely upon
+circumstances. But to help one to help himself is never weakening, but
+always encouraging and strengthening, because it leads him to a larger
+and stronger life.
+
+There is no better way to help one to help himself than to bring him to
+a knowledge of himself. There is no better way to bring one to a
+knowledge of himself than to lead him to a knowledge of the powers that
+are lying dormant within his own soul. There is nothing that will
+enable him to come more readily or more completely into an awakened
+knowledge of the powers that are lying dormant within his own soul,
+than to bring him into the conscious, vital realization of his oneness
+with the Infinite Life and Power, so that he may open himself to it in
+order that it may work and manifest through him.
+
+We will find that these same great truths lie at the very bottom of the
+solution of our social situation; and we will also find that we will
+never have a full and permanent solution of it until they are fully
+recognized and built upon.
+
+
+
+
+WISDOM AND INTERIOR ILLUMINATION.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Wisdom, and in the degree that we open
+ourselves to it does the highest wisdom manifest itself to and through
+us. We can in this way go to the very heart of the universe itself and
+find the mysteries hidden to the majority of mankind,--hidden to them,
+though not hidden of themselves.
+
+In order for the highest wisdom and insight we must have absolute
+confidence in the Divine guiding us, but not through the channel of some
+one else. And why should we go to another for knowledge and wisdom?
+With God is no respect of persons. Why should we seek these things
+second hand? Why should we thus stultify our own innate powers? Why
+should we not go direct to the Infinite Source itself? "If any man lack
+wisdom let him ask of God." "Before they call I will answer, and while
+they are yet speaking, I will hear."
+
+When we thus go directly to the Infinite Source itself we are no longer
+slaves to personalities, institutions, or books. We should always keep
+ourselves open to suggestions of truth from these agencies. We should
+always regard them as agencies, however, and never as sources. We should
+never recognize them as masters, but simply as teachers. With Browning,
+we must recognize the great fact that--
+
+ "Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
+ From outward things, whate'er you may believe.
+ There is an inmost centre in us all,
+ Where truth abides in fullness."
+
+
+There is no more important injunction in all the world, nor one with a
+deeper interior meaning, than "To thine own self be true." In other
+words, be true to your own soul, for it is through your own soul that the
+voice of God speaks to you. This is the interior guide. This is the
+light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This is
+conscience. This is intuition. This is the voice of the higher self,
+the voice of the soul, the voice of God. "Thou shalt hear a voice behind
+thee, saying: This is the way, walk ye in it."
+
+When Moses was on the mountain it was after the various physical
+commotions and manifestations that he heard the "still, small voice," the
+voice of his own soul, through which the Infinite God was speaking. If
+we will but follow this voice of intuition, it will speak ever more
+clearly and more plainly, until by and by it will be absolute and
+unerring in its guidance. The great trouble with us is that we do not
+listen to and do not follow this voice within our own souls, and so we
+become as a house divided against itself. We are pulled this way and
+that, and we are never _certain_ of anything. I have a friend who
+listens so carefully to this inner voice, who, in other words, always
+acts so quickly and so fully in accordance with his intuitions, and whose
+life as a consequence is so absolutely guided by them, that he always
+does the right thing at the right time and in the right way. He always
+knows when to act and how to act, and he is never in the condition of a
+house divided against itself.
+
+But some one says, "May it not be dangerous for us to act always upon our
+intuitions? Suppose we should have an intuition to do harm to some one?"
+We need not be afraid of this, however, for the voice of the soul, this
+voice of God speaking through the soul, will never direct one to do harm
+to another, nor to do anything that is not in accordance with the highest
+standards of right, and truth, and justice. And if you at any time have
+a prompting of this kind, know that it is not the voice of intuition; it
+is some characteristic of your lower self that is prompting you.
+
+Reason is not to be set aside, but it is to be continually illumined by
+this higher spiritual perception, and in the degree that it is thus
+illumined will it become an agent of light and power. When one becomes
+thoroughly individualized he enters into the realm of all knowledge and
+wisdom; and to be individualized is to recognize no power outside of the
+Infinite Power that is back of all. When one recognizes this great fact
+and opens himself to this Spirit of Infinite Wisdom, he then enters upon
+the road to the true education, and mysteries that before were closed now
+reveal themselves to him. This must indeed be the foundation of all true
+education, this evolving from within, this evolving of what has been
+involved by the Infinite Power.
+
+All things that it is valuable for us to know will come to us if we will
+but open ourselves to the voice of this Infinite Spirit. It is thus that
+we become seers and have the power of seeing into the very heart of
+things. There are no new stars, there are no new laws or forces, but we
+can so open ourselves to this Spirit of Infinite Wisdom that we can
+discover and recognize those that have not been known before; and in this
+way they become new to us. When in this way we come into a knowledge of
+truth we no longer need facts that are continually changing. We can then
+enter into the quiet of our own interior selves. We can open the window
+and look out, and thus gather the facts as we choose. This is true
+wisdom. "Wisdom is the knowledge of God." Wisdom comes by intuition.
+It far transcends knowledge. Great knowledge, knowledge of many things,
+may be had by virtue simply of a very retentive memory. It comes by
+tuition. But wisdom far transcends knowledge, in that knowledge is a
+mere incident of this deeper wisdom.
+
+He who would enter into the realm of wisdom must first divest himself of
+all intellectual pride. He must become as a little child. Prejudices,
+preconceived opinions and beliefs always stand in the way of true wisdom.
+Conceited opinions are always suicidal in their influences. They bar the
+door to the entrance of truth.
+
+All about us we see men in the religious world, in the world of science,
+in the political, in the social world, who through intellectual pride are
+so wrapped in their own conceits and prejudices that larger and later
+revelations of truth can find no entrance to them; and instead of growing
+and expanding, they are becoming dwarfed and stunted, and still more
+incapable of receiving truth. Instead of actively aiding in the progress
+of the world, they are as so many dead sticks in the way that would
+retard the wheels of progress. This, however, they can never do. Such
+always in time get bruised, broken, and left behind, while God's
+triumphal car of truth moves steadily onward.
+
+When the steam engine was still being experimented with, and before it
+was perfected sufficiently to come into practical use, a well-known
+Englishman--well known then in scientific circles--wrote an extended
+pamphlet proving that it would be impossible for it ever to be used in
+ocean navigation, that is, in a trip involving the crossing of the ocean,
+because it would be utterly impossible for any vessel to carry with it
+sufficient coal for the use of its furnace. And the interesting feature
+of the whole matter was that the very first steam vessel that made the
+trip from England to America, had among its cargo a part of the first
+edition of this carefully prepared pamphlet. There was only the one
+edition. Many editions might be sold now.
+
+This seems indeed an amusing fact; but far more amusing is the man who
+voluntarily closes himself to truth because, forsooth, it does not come
+through conventional, or orthodox, or heretofore accepted channels; or
+because it may not be in full accord with, or possibly may be opposed to,
+established usages or beliefs. On the contrary--
+
+ "Let there be many windows in your soul,
+ That all the glory of the universe
+ May beautify it. Not the narrow pane
+ Of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays
+ That shine from countless sources. Tear away
+ The blinds of superstition: let the light
+ Pour through fair windows, broad as truth itself
+ And high as heaven. . . . Tune your ear
+ To all the worldless music of the stars
+ And to the voice of nature, and your heart
+ Shall turn to truth and goodness as the plant
+ Turns to the sun. A thousand unseen hands
+ Reach down to help you to their peace-crowned heights,
+ And all the forces of the firmament
+ Shall fortify your strength. Be not afraid
+ To thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole."
+
+
+There is a great law in connection with the coming of truth. It is this:
+Whenever a man or a woman shuts himself or herself to the entrance of
+truth on account of intellectual pride, preconceived opinions,
+prejudices, or for whatever reason, there is a great law which says that
+truth _in its fullness_ will come to that one from no source. And on the
+other hand, when a man or a woman opens himself or herself fully to the
+entrance of truth from _whatever_ source it may come, there is an equally
+great law which says that truth will flow in to him or to her from all
+sources, from all quarters. Such becomes the free man, the free woman,
+for it is the truth that makes us free. The other remains in bondage,
+for truth has had no invitation and will not enter where it is not fully
+and freely welcomed.
+
+And where truth is denied entrance the rich blessings it carries with it
+cannot take up their abode. On the contrary, when this is the case, it
+sends an envoy carrying with it atrophy, disease, death, physically and
+spiritually as well as intellectually. And the man who would rob another
+of his free and unfettered search for truth, who would stand as the
+interpreter of truth for another, with the intent of remaining in this
+position, rather than endeavoring to lead him to the place where he can
+be his own interpreter, is more to be shunned than a thief and a robber.
+The injury he works is far greater, for he is doing direct and positive
+injury to the very life of the one he thus holds.
+
+Who has ever appointed any man, whoever he may be, as the keeper, the
+custodian, the dispenser of God's illimitable truth? Many indeed are
+moved and so are called to be teachers of truth; but the true teacher
+will never stand as the interpreter of truth for another. The _true
+teacher_ is the one whose endeavor is to bring the one he teaches to a
+true knowledge of himself and hence of his own interior powers, that he
+may become his own interpreter. All others are, generally speaking,
+those animated by purely personal motives, self-aggrandizement, or
+personal gain. Moreover, he who would claim to have all truth and the
+only truth, is a bigot, a fool, or a knave.
+
+In the Eastern literature is a fable of a frog. The frog lived in a
+well, and out of his little well he had never been. One day a frog whose
+home was in the sea came to his well. Interested in all things, he went
+in. "Who are you? Where do you live?" said the frog in the well. "I am
+so and so, and my home is in the sea." "The sea? What is that? Where
+is that?" "It is a very large body of water, and not far away." "How
+big is your sea?" "Oh, very big." "As big as this?" pointing to a
+little stone lying near. "Oh, much bigger." "As big as this?" pointing
+to the board upon which they were sitting. "Oh, much bigger." "How much
+bigger, then?" "Why, the sea in which I live is bigger than your entire
+well; it would make millions of wells such as yours." "Nonsense,
+nonsense; you are a deceiver and a falsifier. Get out of my well. Get
+out of my well. I want nothing to do with any such frogs as you."
+
+"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," is the
+promise. Ye shall close yourselves to truth, ye shall live in your own
+conceits, and your own conceits shall make fools and idiots of you, would
+be a statement applicable to not a few, and to not a few who pride
+themselves upon their superior intellectual attainments. Idiocy is
+arrested mental growth. Closing one's self for whatever reason to truth
+and hence to growth, brings a certain type of idiocy, though it may not
+be called by this name. And on the other hand, another type is that
+arrested growth caused by taking all things for granted, without proving
+them for one's self, merely because they come from a particular person, a
+particular book, a particular institution. This is caused by one's
+always looking without instead of being true to the light within, and
+carefully tending it that it may give an ever-clearer light.
+
+With brave and intrepid Walt Whitman, we should all be able to say--
+
+ "From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits
+ and imaginary lines,
+ Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
+ Listening to others, considering well what they say,
+ Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
+ Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the
+ holds that would hold me."
+
+
+Great should be the joy that God's boundless truth is open to all, open
+_equally_ to all, and that it will make each one its dwelling place in
+proportion as he earnestly desires it and opens himself to it.
+
+And in regard to the wisdom that guides us in our daily life, there is
+nothing that it is right and well for us to know that may not be known
+when we recognize the law of its coming, and are able wisely to use it.
+Let us know that all things are ours as soon as we know how to
+appropriate them.
+
+ "I hold it as a changeless law,
+ From which no soul can sway or swerve,
+ We have that in us which will draw
+ Whate'er we need or most deserve."
+
+
+If the times come when we know not what course to pursue, when we know
+not which way to turn, the fault lies in ourselves. If the fault lies in
+ourselves then the correction of this unnatural condition lies also in
+ourselves. It is never necessary to come into such a state if we are
+awake and remain awake to the light and the powers within us. The light
+is ever shining, and the only thing that it is necessary for us
+diligently to see to is that we permit neither this thing nor that to
+come between us and the light. "With Thee is the fountain of life; in
+Thy light shall we see light."
+
+Let us hear the words of one of the most highly illumined men I have ever
+known, and one who as a consequence is never in the dark, when the time
+comes, as to what to do and how to do it. "Whenever you are in doubt as
+to the course you should pursue, after you have turned to every outward
+means of guidance, _let the inward eye see, let the inward ear hear_, and
+allow this simple, natural, beautiful process to go on unimpeded by
+questionings or doubts. . . . In all dark hours and times of unwonted
+perplexity we need to follow one simple direction, found, as all needed
+directions can be found, in the dear old gospel, which so many read, but
+alas, _so few interpret_. 'Enter into thine inner chamber and shut the
+door.' Does this mean that we must literally betake ourselves to a
+private closet with a key in the door? If it did, then the command could
+never be obeyed in the open air, on land or sea, and the Christ loved the
+lakes and the forests far better than the cramping rooms of city dwelling
+houses; still his counsels are so wide-reaching that there is no spot on
+earth and no conceivable situation in which any of us may be placed where
+we cannot follow them.
+
+"One of the most intuitive men we ever met had a desk in a city office
+where several other gentlemen were doing business constantly and often
+talking loudly. Entirely undisturbed by the many various sounds about
+him, this self-centred, faithful man would, in any moment of perplexity,
+draw the curtains of privacy so completely about him that he would be as
+fully enclosed in his own psychic aura, and thereby as effectually
+removed from all distractions as though he were alone in some primeval
+wood. Taking his difficulty with him into the mystic silence in the form
+of a direct question, to which he expected a certain answer, he would
+remain utterly passive until the reply came, and never once through many
+years' experience did he find himself disappointed or misled. Intuitive
+perceptions of truth are the daily bread to satisfy our daily hunger;
+they come like the manna in the desert day by day; each day brings
+adequate supply for that day's need only. They must be followed
+instantly, for dalliance with them means their obscuration, and the more
+we dally the more we invite erroneous impressions to cover intuition with
+a pall of conflicting moral phantasy born of illusions of the terrence
+will.
+
+"One condition is imposed by _universal law_, and this we must obey. Put
+all wishes aside save the one desire to know _truth_; couple with this
+one demand the fully consecrated determination to follow what is
+distinctly perceived as truth immediately it is revealed. No other
+affection must be permitted to share the field with this all-absorbing
+love of _truth_ for its own sake. Obey this one direction and never
+forget that expectation and desire are bride and bridegroom and forever
+inseparable, and you will soon find your hitherto darkened way grow
+luminous with celestial radiance, for with the heaven within, all heavens
+without incessantly co-operate." This may be termed going into the
+"silence." This it is to perceive and to be guided by the light that
+lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This it is to listen to
+and be guided by the voice of your own soul, the voice of your higher
+self.
+
+The soul is divine and in allowing it to become translucent to the
+Infinite Spirit it reveals all things to us. As man turns away from the
+Divine Light do all things become hidden. There is nothing hidden of
+itself. When the spiritual sense is opened, then it transcends all the
+limitations of the physical senses and the intellect. And in the degree
+that we are able to get away from the limitations set by them, and
+realize that so far as the real life is concerned it is one with the
+Infinite Life, then we begin to reach the place where this voice will
+always speak, where it will never fail us, if we follow it, and as a
+consequence where we will always have the divine illumination and
+guidance. To know this and to live in this realization is not to live in
+heaven hereafter, but to live in heaven here and now, _today and every
+day_.
+
+No human soul need be without it. When we turn our face in the right
+direction it comes as simply and as naturally as the flower blooms and
+the winds blow. It is not to be bought with money or with price. It is
+a condition waiting simply to be realized, by rich and by poor, by king
+and by peasant, by master and by servant the world over. All are equal
+heirs to it. And so the peasant, if he find it first, lives a life far
+transcending in beauty and in real power the life of his king. The
+servant, if he find it first, lives a life surpassing the life of his
+master.
+
+
+If you would find the highest, the fullest, and the richest life that not
+only this world but that any world can know, then do away with the sense
+of the separateness of your life from the life of God. Hold to the
+thought of your oneness. In the degree that you do this you will find
+yourself realizing it more and more, and as this life of realization is
+lived, you will find that no good thing will be withheld, for all things
+are included in this. Then it will be yours, without fears or
+forebodings, simply to do today what your hands find to do, and so be
+ready for tomorrow, _when it comes_, knowing that tomorrow will bring
+tomorrow's supplies for the mental, the spiritual, and the physical life.
+Remember, however, that tomorrow's supplies are not needed until tomorrow
+comes.
+
+If one is willing to trust himself _fully_ to the Law, the Law will never
+fail him. It is the half-hearted trusting to it that brings uncertain,
+and so, unsatisfactory results. Nothing is firmer and surer than Deity.
+It will never fail the one who throws himself wholly upon it. The secret
+of life then, is to live continually in this realization, whatever one
+may be doing, wherever one may be, by day and by night, both waking and
+sleeping. It can be lived in while we are sleeping no less than when we
+are awake. And here shall we consider a few facts in connection with
+sleep, in connection with receiving instruction and illumination while
+asleep?
+
+During the process of sleep it is merely the physical body that is at
+rest and in quiet; the soul life with all its activities goes right on.
+Sleep is nature's provision for the recuperation of the body, for the
+rebuilding and hence the replacing of the waste that is continually going
+on during the waking hours. It is nature's great restorer. If
+sufficient sleep is not allowed the body, so that the rebuilding may
+equalize the wasting process, the body is gradually depleted and
+weakened, and any ailment or malady, when it is in this condition, is
+able to find a more ready entrance. It is for this reason that those who
+are subject to it will take a cold, as we term it, more readily when the
+body is tired or exhausted through loss of sleep than at most any other
+time. The body is in that condition where outside influences can have a
+more ready effect upon it, than when it is in its normal condition. And
+when they do have an effect they always go to the weaker portions first.
+
+Our bodies are given us to serve far higher purposes than we ordinarily
+use them for. Especially is this true in the numerous cases where the
+body is master of its owner. In the degree that we come into the
+realization of the higher powers of the mind and spirit, in that degree
+does the body, through their influence upon it, become less gross and
+heavy, finer in its texture and form. And then, because the mind finds a
+kingdom of enjoyment in itself, and in all the higher things it becomes
+related to, _excesses_ in eating and drinking, as well as all others,
+naturally and of their own accord fall away. There also falls away the
+desire for the heavier, grosser, less valuable kinds of food and drink,
+such as the flesh of animals, alcoholic drinks, and all things of the
+class that stimulate the body and the passions rather than build the body
+and the brain into a strong, clean, well-nourished, enduring, and fibrous
+condition. In the degree that the body thus becomes less gross and
+heavy, finer in its texture and form, is there less waste, and what there
+is is more easily replaced, so that it keeps in a more regular and even
+condition. When this is true, less sleep is actually required. And even
+the amount that is taken does more for a body of this finer type than it
+can do for one of the other nature.
+
+As the body in this way grows finer, in other words, as the process of
+its evolution is thus accelerated, it in turn helps the mind and the soul
+in the realization of ever higher perceptions, and thus body helps mind
+the same as mind builds body. It was undoubtedly this fact that Browning
+had in mind when he said:
+
+ "Let us cry 'All good things
+ Are ours, nor soul helps flesh, more now,
+ Than flesh helps soul.'"
+
+Sleep, then, is for the resting and the rebuilding of the body. The soul
+needs no rest, and while the body is at rest in sleep the soul life is
+active the same as when the body is in activity.
+
+There are some, having a deep insight into the soul's activities, who say
+that we travel when we sleep. Some are able to recall and bring over
+into the conscious, waking life the scenes visited, the information
+gained, and the events that have transpired. Most people are not able to
+do this and so much that might otherwise be gained is lost. They say,
+however, that it is in our power, in proportion as we understand the
+laws, to go where we will, and to bring over into the conscious, waking
+life all the experiences thus gained. Be this, however, as it may, it
+certainly is true that while sleeping we have the power, in a perfectly
+normal and natural way, to get much of value by way of light,
+instruction, and growth that the majority of people now miss.
+
+If the soul life, that which relates us to Infinite Spirit, is always
+active, even while the body is at rest, why may not the mind so direct
+conditions as one falls asleep, that while the body is at rest, it may
+continually receive illumination from the soul and bring what it thus
+receives over into the conscious, waking life? This, indeed, can be
+done, and is done by some to great advantage; and many times the highest
+inspirations from the soul come in this way, as would seem most natural,
+since at this time all communications from the outer, material world no
+longer enter. I know those who do much work during sleep, the same as
+they get much light along desired lines. By charging the mind on going
+to sleep as to a particular time for waking, it is possible, as many of
+us know, to wake on the very minute. Not infrequently we have examples
+of difficult problems, problems that defied solution during waking hours,
+being solved during sleep.
+
+A friend, a well-known journalist, had an extended newspaper article
+clearly and completely worked out for her in this way. She frequently
+calls this agency to her aid. She was notified by the managing editor
+one evening to have the article ready in the morning,--an article
+requiring more than ordinary care, and one in which quite a knowledge of
+facts was required. It was a matter in connection with which she knew
+scarcely anything, and all her efforts at finding information regarding
+it seemed to be of no avail.
+
+She set to work, but it seemed as if even her own powers defied her.
+Failure seemed imminent. Almost in desperation she decided to retire,
+and putting the matter into her mind in such a way that she would be able
+to receive the greatest amount of aid while asleep, she fell asleep and
+slept soundly until morning. When she awoke her work of the previous
+evening was the first thing that came into her mind. She lay quietly for
+a few minutes, and as she lay there, the article, completely written,
+seemed to stand before her mind. She ran through it, arose, and without
+dressing took her pen and transcribed it on to paper, literally acting
+simply as her own amanuensis.
+
+The mind acting intently along a particular line will continue so to act
+until some other object of thought carries it along another line. And
+since in sleep only the body is in quiet while the mind and soul are
+active, then the mind on being given a certain direction when one drops
+off to sleep, will take up the line along which it is directed, and can
+be made, in time, to bring over into consciousness the results of its
+activities. Some will be able very soon to get results of this kind; for
+some it will take longer. Quiet and continued effort will increase the
+faculty.
+
+Then by virtue of the law of the drawing power of mind, since the mind is
+always active, we are drawing to us even while sleeping, influences from
+the realms kindred to those in which we in our thoughts are living before
+we fall asleep. In this way we can put ourselves into relation with what
+ever kinds of influence we choose and accordingly gain much during the
+process of sleep. In many ways the interior faculties are more open and
+receptive while we are in sleep than while we are awake. Hence the
+necessity of exercising even greater care as to the nature of the
+thoughts that occupy the mind as we enter into sleep, for there can come
+to us only what we by our own order of thought attract. We have it
+entirely in our own hands.
+
+And for the same reason,--this greater degree of receptivity during this
+period,--we are able by understanding and using the law, to gain much of
+value more readily in this way than when the physical senses are fully
+open to the material world about us. Many will find a practice somewhat
+after the following nature of value: When light or information is desired
+along any particular line, light or information you feel it is right and
+wise for you to have, as, for example, light in regard to an uncertain
+course of action, then as you retire, first bring your mind into the
+attitude of peace and good-will for all. You in this way bring yourself
+into an harmonious condition, and in turn attract to yourself these same
+peaceful conditions from without.
+
+Then resting in this sense of peace, quietly and calmly send out your
+earnest desire for the needed light or information; cast out of your mind
+all fears or forebodings lest it come not, for "in quietness and in
+confidence shall be your strength." Take the expectant attitude of mind,
+firmly believing and expecting that when you awake the desired results
+will be with you. Then on awaking, before any thoughts or activities
+from the outside world come in to absorb the attention, remain for a
+little while receptive to the intuitions or the impressions that come.
+When they come, when they manifest themselves clearly, then act upon them
+without delay. In the degree that you do this, in that degree will the
+power of doing it ever more effectively grow.
+
+Or, if for unselfish purposes you desire to grow and develop any of your
+faculties, or to increase the health and strength of your body, take a
+corresponding attitude of mind, the form of which will readily suggest
+itself in accordance with your particular needs or desires. In this way
+you will open yourself to, you will connect yourself with, and you will
+set into operation within yourself, the particular order of forces that
+will make for these results. Don't be afraid to voice your desires. In
+this way you set into operation vibratory forces which go out and which
+make their impress felt somewhere, and which, arousing into activity or
+uniting with other forces, set about to actualize your desires. No good
+thing shall be withheld from him who lives in harmony with the higher
+laws and forces. There are no desires that shall not be satisfied to the
+one who knows and who wisely uses the powers with which he or she is
+endowed.
+
+Your sleep will be more quiet, and peaceful, and refreshing, and so your
+power increased mentally, physically, and spiritually, simply by sending
+out as you fall asleep, thoughts of love and good-will, thoughts of peace
+and harmony for all. In this way you are connecting yourself with all
+the forces in the universe that make for peace and harmony.
+
+A friend who is known the world over through his work along humane lines,
+has told me that many times in the middle of the night he is awakened
+suddenly and there comes to his mind, as a flash of inspiration, a
+certain plan in connection with his work. And as he lays there quietly
+and opens himself to it, the methods for its successful carrying out all
+reveal themselves to him clearly. In this way many plans are entered
+upon and brought to a successful culmination that otherwise would never
+be thought of, plans that seem, indeed, marvelous to the world at large.
+He is a man with a sensitive organism, his life in thorough harmony with
+the higher laws, and given wholly and unreservedly to the work to which
+he has dedicated it. Just how and from what source these inspirations
+come he does not fully know. Possibly no one does, though each may have
+his theory. But this we do know, and it is all we need to know now, at
+least,--that to the one who lives in harmony with the higher laws of his
+being, and who opens himself to them, they come.
+
+Visions and inspirations of the highest order will come in the degree
+that we make for them the right conditions. One who has studied deeply
+into the subject in hand has said: "To receive education spiritually
+while the body is resting in sleep is a perfectly normal and orderly
+experience, and would occur definitely and satisfactorily in the lives of
+all of us, if we paid more attention to internal and consequently less to
+external states with their supposed but unreal necessities. . . . Our
+thoughts make us what we are here and hereafter, and our thoughts are
+often busier by night than by day, for when we are asleep to the exterior
+we can be wide awake to the interior world; and the unseen world is a
+substantial place, the conditions of which are entirely regulated by
+mental and moral attainments. When we are not deriving information
+through outward avenues of sensation, we are receiving instruction
+through interior channels of perception, and when this fact is understood
+for what it is worth, it will become a universal custom for persons to
+take to sleep with them the special subject on which they most earnestly
+desire particular instruction. The Pharaoh type of person dreams, and so
+does his butler and baker; but the Joseph type, which is that of the
+truly gifted seer, both dreams and interprets."
+
+But why had not Pharaoh the power of interpreting his dreams? Why was
+Joseph the type of the "truly gifted seer?" Why did he not only dream,
+but had also the power to interpret both his own dreams and the dreams of
+others? Simply read the lives of the two. He who runs may read. In all
+true power it is, after all, living the life that tells. And in
+proportion as one lives the life does he not only attain to the highest
+power and joy for himself, but he also becomes of ever greater service to
+all the world. One need remain in no hell longer than he himself chooses
+to; and the moment he chooses not to remain longer, not all the powers in
+the universe can prevent his leaving it. One can rise to any heaven he
+himself chooses; and when he chooses so to rise, all the higher powers of
+the universe combine to help him heavenward.
+
+When one awakes from sleep and so returns to conscious life, he is in a
+peculiarly receptive and impressionable state. All relations with the
+material world have for a time been shut off, the mind is in a freer and
+more natural state, resembling somewhat a sensitive plate, where
+impressions can readily leave their traces. This is why many times the
+highest and truest impressions come to one in the early morning hours,
+before the activities of the day and their attendant distractions have
+exerted an influence. This is one reason why many people can do their
+best work in the early hours of the day.
+
+But this fact is also a most valuable one in connection with the moulding
+of every-day life. The mind is at this time as a clean sheet of paper.
+We can most valuably use this quiet, receptive, impressionable period by
+wisely directing the activities of the mind along the highest and most
+desirable paths, and thus, so to speak, set the pace for the day.
+
+Each morning is a fresh beginning. We are, as it were, just beginning
+life. We have it _entirely_ in our own hands. And when the morning with
+its fresh beginning comes, all yesterdays should be yesterdays, with
+which we have nothing to do. Sufficient is it to know that the way we
+lived our yesterday has determined for us our today. And, again, when
+the morning with its fresh beginning comes, all tomorrows should be
+tomorrows, with which we have nothing to do. Sufficient to know that the
+way we live our today determines our tomorrow.
+
+ "Every day is a fresh beginning,
+ Every morn is the world made new;
+ You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,
+ Here is a beautiful hope for you,
+ A hope for me and a hope for you.
+
+ "All the past things are past and over,
+ The tasks are done, and the tears are shed.
+ Yesterday's errors let yesterday cover;
+ Yesterday's wounds, which smarted and bled,
+ Are healed with the healing which might has shed.
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+ "Let them go, since we cannot relieve them,
+ Cannot undo and cannot atone.
+ God in His mercy receive, forgive them!
+ Only the new days are our own.
+ Today is ours, and today alone.
+
+ "Here are the skies all burnished brightly;
+ Here is the spent earth all reborn;
+ Here are the tired limbs springing lightly
+ To face the sun and to share with the morn
+ In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn.
+
+ "Every day is a fresh beginning,
+ Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,
+ And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,
+ And puzzles forecasted, and possible pain,
+ Take heart with the day and begin again."
+
+
+Simply the first hour of this new day, with all its richness and glory,
+with all its sublime and eternity-determining possibilities, and each
+succeeding hour as it comes, but _not before_ it comes. This is the
+secret of character building. This simple method will bring any one to
+the realization of the highest life that can be even conceived of, and
+there is nothing in this connection that can be conceived of that cannot
+be realized somehow, somewhen, somewhere.
+
+This brings such a life within the possibilities of _all_, for there is
+_no one_, if really in earnest and if he really desires it, who cannot
+live to his highest for a single hour. But even though there should be,
+if he is _only earnest in his endeavor_, then, through the law that like
+builds like, he will be able to come a little nearer to it the next hour,
+and still nearer the next, and the next, until sooner or later comes the
+time when it becomes the natural, and any other would require the effort.
+
+In this way one becomes in love and in league with the highest and best
+in the universe, and as a consequence, the highest and best in the
+universe becomes in love and in league with him. They aid him at every
+turn; they seem literally to move all things his way, because forsooth,
+he has first moved their way.
+
+
+
+
+THE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Peace, and the moment we come into
+harmony with it there comes to us an inflowing tide of peace, for peace
+is harmony. A deep interior meaning underlies the great truth, "To be
+spiritually minded is life and peace." To recognize the fact that we
+are spirit, and to live in this thought, is to be spiritually minded,
+and so to be in harmony and peace. Oh, the thousands of men and women
+all about us weary with care, troubled and ill at ease, running hither
+and thither to find peace, weary in body, soul, and mind; going to
+other countries, traveling the world over, coming back, and still not
+finding it. Of course they have not found it and they never will find
+it in this way, because they are looking for it where it is not. They
+are looking for it without when they should look within. Peace is to
+be found only within, and unless one find it there he will never find
+it at all.
+
+Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one's own soul.
+We may travel over many different avenues in pursuit of it, we may seek
+it through the channels of the bodily appetites and passions, we may
+seek it through all the channels of the external, we may chase for it
+hither and thither, but it will always be just beyond our grasp,
+because we are searching for it where it is not. In the degree,
+however, that we order the bodily appetites and passions in accordance
+with the promptings of the soul within will the higher forms of
+happiness and peace enter our lives; but in the degree that we fail in
+doing this will disease, suffering, and discontent enter in.
+
+To be at one with God is to be at peace. The child simplicity is the
+greatest agency in bringing this full and complete realization, the
+child simplicity that recognizes its true relations with the Father's
+life. There are people I know who have come into such a conscious
+realization of their oneness with this Infinite Life, this Spirit of
+Infinite Peace, that their lives are fairly bubbling over with joy. I
+have particularly in mind at this moment a comparatively young man who
+was an invalid for several years, his health completely broken with
+nervous exhaustion, who thought there was nothing in life worth living
+for, to whom everything and everybody presented a gloomy aspect, and he
+in turn presented a gloomy aspect to all with whom he came in contact.
+Not long ago he came into such a vital realization of his oneness with
+this Infinite Power, he opened himself so completely to its divine
+inflow, that today he is in perfect health, and frequently as I meet
+him now he cannot resist the impulse to cry out, "Oh, it is a joy to be
+alive."
+
+I know an officer on our police force who has told me that many times
+when off duty and on his way home in the evening, there comes to him
+such a vivid and vital realization of his oneness with this Infinite
+Power, and this Spirit of Infinite Peace so takes hold of and so fills
+him, that it seems as if his feet could scarcely keep to the pavement,
+so buoyant and so exhilarated does he become by reason of this
+inflowing tide.
+
+He who comes into this higher realization never has any fear, for he
+has always with him a sense of protection, and the very realization of
+this makes his protection complete. Of him it is true,--"No weapon
+that is formed against thee shall prosper;" "There shall no ill come
+nigh thy dwelling;" "Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the
+field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee."
+
+These are the men and the women who seem to live charmed lives. The
+moment we fear anything we open the door for the entrance of the
+actualization of the very thing we fear. An animal will never harm a
+person who is absolutely fearless in regard to it. The instant he
+fears he opens himself to danger; and some animals, the dog for
+example, can instantly detect the element of fear, and this gives them
+the courage to do harm. In the degree that we come into a full
+realization of our oneness with this Infinite Power do we become calm
+and quiet, undisturbed by the little occurrences that before so vex and
+annoy us. We are no longer disappointed in people, for we always read
+them aright. We have the power of penetrating into their very souls
+and seeing the underlying motives that are at work there.
+
+A gentleman approached a friend the other day, and with great show of
+cordiality grasped him by the hand and said, "Why, Mr. ------, I am so
+glad to see you." Quick as a flash my friend read him, and looking him
+steadily in the eye, replied, "No, you are mistaken, you are not glad
+to see me; but you are very much disconcerted, so much so that you are
+now blushing in evidence of it." The gentleman replied, "Well, you
+know in this day and age of conventionality and form we have to put on
+the show and sometimes make believe what we do not really feel." My
+friend once more looked him in the face and said, "Again you are
+mistaken. Let me give you one little word of advice: You will always
+fare better and will think far more of yourself, always to recognize
+and to tell the truth rather than to give yourself to any semblance of
+it."
+
+As soon as we are able to read people aright we will then cease to be
+disappointed in them, we will cease to place them on pedestals, for
+this can never be done without some attendant disappointment. The fall
+will necessarily come, sooner or later, and moreover, we are thus many
+times unfair to our friends. When we come into harmony with this
+Spirit of Peace, evil reports and apparent bad treatment, either at the
+hands of friends or of enemies, will no longer disturb us. When we are
+conscious of the fact that in our life and our work we are true to that
+eternal principle of right, of truth, of justice that runs through all
+the universe, that unites and governs all, that always eventually
+prevails, then nothing of this kind can come nigh us, and come what may
+we will always be tranquil and undisturbed.
+
+The things that cause sorrow, and pain, and bereavement will not be
+able to take the hold of us they now take, for true wisdom will enable
+us to see the proper place and know the right relations of all things.
+The loss of friends by the transition we call death will not cause
+sorrow to the soul that has come into this higher realization, for he
+knows that there is no such thing as death, for each one is not only a
+partaker, but an eternal partaker, of this Infinite Life. He knows
+that the mere falling away of the physical body by no means affects the
+real soul life. With a tranquil spirit born of a higher faith he can
+realize for himself, and to those less strong he can say--
+
+ "Loving friends! be wise and dry
+ Straightway every weeping eye;
+ What you left upon the bier
+ Is not worth a single tear;
+ 'Tis a simple sea-shell, one
+ Out of which the pearl has gone.
+ The shell was nothing, leave it there;
+ The pearl--the soul--was all, is here."
+
+And so far as the element of separation is concerned, he realizes that
+to spirit there are no bounds, and that spiritual communion, whether
+between two persons in the body, or two persons, one in the body and
+one out of the body, is within the reach of all. In the degree that
+the higher spiritual life is realized can there be this higher
+spiritual communion.
+
+The things that we open ourselves to always come to us. People in the
+olden times expected to see angels and they saw them; but there is no
+more reason why they should have seen them than that we should see them
+now; no more reason why they should come and dwell with them than that
+they should come and dwell with us, for the great laws governing all
+things are the same today as they were then. If angels come not to
+minister unto us it is because we do not invite them, it is because we
+keep the door closed through which they otherwise might enter.
+
+In the degree that we are filled with this Spirit of Peace by thus
+opening ourselves to its inflow does it pour through us, so that we
+carry it with us wherever we go. In the degree that we thus open
+ourselves do we become magnets to attract peace from all sources; and
+in the degree that we attract and embody it in ourselves are we able to
+give it forth to others. We can in this way become such perfect
+embodiments of peace that wherever we go we are continually shedding
+benedictions. But a day or two ago I saw a woman grasp the hand of a
+man (his face showed the indwelling God), saying, "Oh, it does me so
+much good to see you. I have been in anxiety and almost in despair
+during the past few hours, but the very sight of you has rolled the
+burden entirely away." There are people all around us who are
+continually giving out blessings and comfort, persons whose mere
+presence seems to change sorrow into joy, fear into courage, despair
+into hope, weakness into power.
+
+It is the one who has come into the realization of his own true self
+who carries this power with him and who radiates it wherever he
+goes,--the one who, as we say, has found his centre. And in all the
+great universe there is but one centre,--the Infinite Power that is
+working in and through all. The one who then has found his centre is
+the one who has come into the realization of his oneness with this
+Infinite Power, the one who recognizes himself as a spiritual being,
+for God is spirit.
+
+Such is the man of power. Centred in the Infinite, he has thereby, so
+to speak, connected himself with, he has attached his belts to, the
+great power-house of the universe. He is constantly drawing power to
+himself from all sources. For, thus centred, knowing himself,
+conscious of his own power, the thoughts that go from his mind are
+thoughts of strength; and by virtue of the law that like attracts like,
+he by his thoughts is continually attracting to himself from all
+quarters the aid of all whose thoughts are thoughts of strength, and in
+this way he is linking himself with this order of thought in the
+universe.
+
+And so to him that hath, to him shall be given. This is simply the
+working of a natural law. His strong, positive, and hence constructive
+thought is continually working success for him along all lines, and
+continually bringing to him help from all directions. The things that
+he sees, that he creates in the ideal, are through the agency of this
+strong constructive thought continually clothing themselves, taking
+form, manifesting themselves in the material. Silent, unseen forces
+are at work which will sooner or later be made manifest in the visible.
+
+Fear and all thoughts of failure never suggest themselves to such a
+man; or if they do, they are immediately sent out of his mind, and so
+he is not influenced by this order of thought from without. He does
+not attract it to him. He is in another current of thought.
+Consequently the weakening, failure-bringing thoughts of the fearing,
+the vacillating, the pessimistic about him, have no influence upon him.
+The one who is of the negative, fearing kind not only has his energies
+and his physical agents weakened, or even paralyzed through the
+influence of this kind of thought that is born within him, but he also
+in this way connects himself with this order of thought in the world
+about him. And in the degree that he does this does he become a victim
+to the weak, fearing, negative minds all around him. Instead of
+growing in power, he increases in weakness. He is in the same order of
+thought with those of whom it is true,--and even that which they have
+shall be taken away from them. This again is simply the working of a
+natural law, the same as is its opposite. Fearing lest I lose even
+what I have I hide it away in a napkin. Very well. I must then pay
+the price of my "fearing lest I lose."
+
+Thoughts of strength both build strength from within and attract it
+from without. Thoughts of weakness actualize weakness from within and
+attract it from without. Courage begets strength, fear begets
+weakness. And so courage begets success, fear begets failure. It is
+the man or the woman of faith, and hence of courage, who is the master
+of circumstances, and who makes his or her power felt in the world. It
+is the man or the woman who lacks faith and who as a consequence is
+weakened and crippled by fears and forebodings, who is the creature of
+all passing occurrences.
+
+Within each one lies the cause of whatever comes to him. Each has it
+in his own hands to determine what comes. Everything in the visible,
+material world has its origin in the unseen, the spiritual, the thought
+world. This is the world of cause, the former is the world of effect.
+The nature of the effect is always in accordance with the nature of the
+cause. What one lives in his invisible, thought world, he is
+continually actualizing in his visible, material world. If he would
+have any conditions different in the latter he must make the necessary
+change in the former. A clear realization of this great fact would
+bring success to thousands of men and women who all about us are now in
+the depths of despair. It would bring health, abounding health and
+strength to thousands now diseased and suffering. It would bring peace
+and joy to thousands now unhappy and ill at ease.
+
+And oh, the thousands all about us who are continually living in the
+slavery of fear. The spirits within that should be strong and
+powerful, are rendered weak and impotent. Their energies are crippled,
+their efforts are paralyzed. "Fear is everywhere,--fear of want, fear
+of starvation, fear of public opinion, fear of private opinion, fear
+that what we own today may not be ours tomorrow, fear of sickness, fear
+of death. Fear has become with millions a fixed habit. The thought is
+everywhere. The thought is thrown upon us from every direction. . . .
+To live in continual dread, continual cringing, continual fear of
+anything, be it loss of love, loss of money, loss of position or
+situation, is to take the readiest means to lose what we fear we shall."
+
+By fear nothing is to be gained, but on the contrary, everything is to
+be lost. "I know this is true," says one, "but I am given to fear;
+it's natural to me and I can't help it." Can't help it! In saying
+this you indicate one great reason of your fear by showing that you do
+not even know yourself as yet. You must know yourself in order to know
+your powers, and not until you know them can you use them wisely and
+fully. Don't say you can't help it. If you think you can't, the
+chances are that you can't. If you think you can, and act in
+accordance with this thought, then not only are the chances that you
+can, but if you act fully in accordance with it, that you can and that
+you will is an absolute certainty. It was Virgil who in describing the
+crew which in his mind would win the race, said of them,--They can
+because they think they can. In other words, this very attitude of
+mind on their part will infuse a spiritual power into their bodies that
+will give them the strength and endurance which will enable them to win.
+
+Then take the thought that you _can_; take it merely as a seed-thought,
+if need be, plant it in your consciousness, tend it, cultivate it, and
+it will gradually reach out and gather strength from all quarters. It
+will focus and make positive and active the spiritual force within you
+that is now scattered and of little avail. It will draw to itself
+force from without. It will draw to your aid the influence of other
+minds of its own nature, minds that are fearless, strong, courageous.
+You will thus draw to yourself and connect yourself with this order of
+thought. If earnest and faithful, the time will soon come when all
+fear will loose its hold; and instead of being an embodiment of
+weakness and a creature of circumstances, you will find yourself a
+tower of strength and a master of circumstances.
+
+We need more faith in every-day life,--faith in the power that works
+for good, faith in the Infinite God, and hence faith in ourselves
+created in His image. And however things at times may seem to go,
+however dark at times appearances may be, the knowledge of the fact
+that "the Supreme Power has us in its charge as it has the suns and
+endless systems of worlds in space," will give us the supreme faith
+that all is well with us, the same as all is well with the world.
+"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."
+
+There is nothing firmer, and safer, and surer than Deity. Then, as we
+recognize the fact that we have it in our own hands to open ourselves
+ever more fully to this Infinite Power, and call upon it to manifest
+itself in and through us, we will find in ourselves an ever increasing
+sense of power. For in this way we are working in conjunction with it,
+and it in turn is working in conjunction with us. We are then led into
+the full realization of the fact that all things work together for good
+to those that love the good. Then the fears and forebodings that have
+dominated us in the past will be transmuted into faith, and faith when
+rightly understood and rightly used is a force before which nothing can
+stand.
+
+Materialism leads naturally to pessimism. And how could it do
+otherwise? A knowledge of the Spiritual Power working in and through
+us as well as in and through all things, a power that works for
+righteousness, leads to optimism. Pessimism leads to weakness.
+Optimism leads to power. The one who is centred in Deity is the one
+who not only outrides every storm, but who through the faith, and so,
+the conscious power that is in him, faces storm with the same calmness
+and serenity that he faces fair weather; for he knows well beforehand
+what the outcome will be. He knows that underneath are the everlasting
+arms. He it is who realizes the truth of the injunction, "Rest in the
+Lord, wait patiently for Him and He shall give thee thy heart's
+desire." All shall be given, simply given, to him who is ready to
+accept it. Can anything be clearer than this?
+
+In the degree, then, that we work in conjunction with the Supreme Power
+do we need the less to concern ourselves about results. To live in the
+full realization of this fact and all that attends it brings peace, a
+full, rich, abiding peace,--a peace that makes the present complete,
+and that, going on before, brings back the assurance that as our days,
+so shall our strength be. The one who is thus centred, even in the
+face of all the unrest and the turmoil about us, can realize and say--
+
+ * * * *
+
+ "I stay my haste, I make delays,
+ For what avails this eager pace?
+ I stand amid eternal ways,
+ And what is mine shall know my face.
+
+ "Asleep, awake, by night or day,
+ The friends I seek are seeking me;
+ No wind can drive my bark astray,
+ Nor change the tide of destiny.
+
+ * * * *
+
+ "The waters know their own, and draw
+ The brooks that spring in yonder height;
+ So flows the good with equal law
+ Unto the soul of pure delight
+
+ "The stars come nightly to the sky;
+ The tidal wave unto the sea;
+ Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
+ Can keep my own away from me."
+
+
+
+
+COMING INTO FULLNESS OF POWER.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Power, and in the degree that we open
+ourselves to it does power become manifest in us. With God all things
+are possible,--that is, in conjunction with God all things are
+possible. The true secret of power lies in keeping one's connection
+with the God who worketh all things; and in the degree that we keep
+this connection are we able literally to rise above every conceivable
+limitation.
+
+Why, then, waste time in running hither and thither to acquire power?
+Why waste time with this practice or that practice? Why not go
+directly to the mountain top itself, instead of wandering through the
+by-ways, in the valleys, and on the mountain sides? That man has
+absolute dominion, as taught in all the scriptures of the world, is
+true not of physical man, but of _spiritual man_. There are many
+animals, for example, larger and stronger, over which from a physical
+standpoint he would not have dominion, but he can gain supremacy over
+even these by calling into activity the higher mental, psychic, and
+spiritual forces with which he is endowed.
+
+Whatever can't be done in the physical can be done in the spiritual.
+And in direct proportion as a man recognizes himself as spirit, and
+lives accordingly, is he able to transcend in power the man who
+recognizes himself merely as material. All the sacred literature of
+the world is teeming with examples of what we call miracles. They are
+not confined to any particular times or places. There is no age of
+miracles in distinction from any other period that may be an age of
+miracles. Whatever has been done in the world's history can be done
+again through the operation of the same laws and forces. These
+miracles were performed not by those who were more than men, but by
+those who through the recognition of their oneness with God became
+God-men, so that the higher forces and powers worked through them.
+
+For what, let us ask, is a miracle? Is it something supernatural?
+Supernatural only in the sense of being above the natural, or rather,
+above that which is natural to man in his ordinary state. A miracle is
+nothing more nor less than this. One who has come into a knowledge of
+his true identity, of his oneness with the all-pervading Wisdom and
+Power, thus makes it possible for laws higher than the ordinary mind
+knows of to be revealed to him. These laws he makes use of; the people
+see the results, and by virtue of their own limitations, call them
+miracles and speak of the person who performs these apparently
+supernatural works as a supernatural being. But they as supernatural
+beings could themselves perform these supernatural works if they would
+open themselves to the recognition of the same laws, and consequently
+to the realization of the same possibilities and powers. And let us
+also remember that the supernatural of yesterday becomes, as in the
+process of evolution we advance from the lower to the higher, from the
+more material to the more spiritual, the common and the natural of
+today, and what seems to be the supernatural of today becomes in the
+same way the natural of tomorrow, and so on through the ages. Yes, it
+is the God-man who does the things that appear supernatural, the man
+who by virtue of his realization of the higher powers transcends the
+majority and so stands out among them. But any power that is possible
+to one human soul is possible to another. The same laws operate in
+every life. We can be men and women of power or we can be men and
+women of impotence. The moment one vitally grasps the fact that he can
+rise he will rise, and he can have absolutely no limitations other than
+the limitations he sets to himself. Cream always rises to the top. It
+rises simply because _it is the nature of cream to rise_.
+
+We hear much said of "environment." We need to realize that
+environment should never be allowed to make the man, but that man
+should always, _and always can_, condition the environment. When we
+realize this we will find that many times it is not necessary to take
+ourselves out of any particular environment, because we may yet have a
+work to do there; but by the very force we carry with us we can so
+affect and change matters that we will have an entirely new set of
+conditions in an old environment.
+
+The same is true in regard to "hereditary" traits and influences. We
+sometimes hear the question asked, "Can they be overcome?" Only the
+one who doesn't yet know himself can ask a question such as this. If
+we entertain and live in the belief that they cannot be overcome, then
+the chances are that they will always remain. The moment, however,
+that we come into a realization of our true selves, and so of the
+tremendous powers and forces within,--the powers and forces of the mind
+and spirit,--hereditary traits and influences that are harmful in
+nature will begin to lessen, and will disappear with a rapidity
+directly in proportion to the completeness of this realization.
+
+ "There is no thing we cannot overcome;
+ Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,
+ Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,
+ And calls down punishment that is not merited.
+
+ "Back of thy parents and grandparents lies
+ The Great Eternal Will! That too is thine
+ Inheritance,--strong, beautiful, divine,
+ Sure lever of success for one who tries.
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+ "There is no noble height thou canst not climb;
+ All triumphs may be thine in Time's futurity,
+ If, whatso'er thy fault, thou dost not faint or halt;
+ But lean upon the staff of God's security.
+
+ "Earth has no claim the soul cannot contest;
+ Know thyself part of the Eternal Source;
+ Naught can stand before thy spirit's force;
+ The soul's Divine Inheritance is best."
+
+Again there are many who are living far below their possibilities
+because they are continually handing over their individualities to
+others. Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself.
+Don't class yourself, don't allow yourself to be classed among the
+second-hand, among the _they-say_ people. Be true to the highest
+within your own soul, and then allow yourself to be governed by no
+customs or conventionalities or arbitrary man-made rules that are not
+founded upon _principle_. Those things that are founded upon principle
+will be observed by the right-minded, the right-hearted man or woman,
+in any case.
+
+Don't surrender your individuality, which is your greatest agent of
+power, to the customs and conventionalities that have gotten their life
+from the great mass of those who haven't enough force to preserve their
+individualities,--those who in other words have given them over as
+ingredients to the "mush of concession" which one of our greatest
+writers has said characterizes our modern society. If you do surrender
+your individuality in this way, you simply aid in increasing the
+undesirable conditions; in payment for this you become a slave, and the
+chances are that in time you will be unable to hold even the respect of
+those whom you in this way try to please.
+
+If you preserve your individuality then you become a master, and if
+wise and discreet, your influence and power will be an aid in bringing
+about a higher, a better, and a more healthy set of conditions in the
+world. All people, moreover, will think more of you, will honor you
+more highly for doing this than if you show your weakness by
+contributing yourself to the same "mush of concession" that so many of
+them are contributing themselves to. With all classes of people you
+will then have an influence. "A great style of hero draws equally all
+classes, all extremes of society to him, till we say the very dogs
+believe in him."
+
+To be one's self is the only worthy, and by all means the only
+satisfactory, thing to be. "May it not be good policy," says one, "to
+be governed sometimes by one's surroundings?" What is good policy? To
+be yourself, first, last, and always.
+
+ "This above all,--to thine own self be true;
+ And it must follow, as the night the day,
+ Thou canst not then be false to any man."
+
+
+"When we appeal to the Supreme and our life is governed by a principle,
+we are not governed either by fear of public opinion or loss of others'
+approbation, and we may be sure that the Supreme will sustain us. If
+in any way we try to live to suit others we never shall suit them, and
+the more we try the more unreasonable and exacting do they become. The
+government of your life is a matter that lies entirely between God and
+yourself, and when your life is swayed and influenced from any other
+source you are on the wrong path." When we find the kingdom within and
+become centred in the Infinite, then we become a law unto ourselves.
+When we become a law unto ourselves, then we are able to bring others
+to a knowledge of laws higher than they are governed or many times even
+enslaved by.
+
+When we have found this centre, then that beautiful simplicity, at once
+the charm and the power of a truly great personality, enters into our
+lives. Then all striving for effect,--that sure indicator of weakness
+and a lack of genuine power,--is absent. This striving for effect that
+is so common is always an indicator of a lack of something. It brings
+to mind the man who rides behind a dock-tailed horse. Conscious of the
+fact that there is not enough in _himself_ to attract attention, in
+common with a number of other weaklings, he adopts the brutal method of
+having his horse's tail sawed off, that its unnatural, odd appearance
+may attract from people the attention that he of himself is unable to
+secure.
+
+But the one who strives for effect is always fooled more than he
+succeeds in fooling others. The man and the woman of true wisdom and
+insight can always see the causes that prompt, the motives that
+underlie the acts of all with whom he or she comes in contact. "He is
+great who is what he is from nature and who never reminds us of others."
+
+The men and the women who are truly awake to the real powers within are
+the men and women who seem to be doing so little, yet who in reality
+are doing so much. They seem to be doing so little because they are
+working with higher agencies, and yet are doing so much because of this
+very fact. They do their work on the higher plane. They keep so
+completely their connection with the Infinite Power that _It_ does the
+work for them and they are relieved of the responsibility. They are
+the care-less people. They are care-less because it is the Infinite
+Power that is working through them, and with this Infinite Power they
+are simply co-operating.
+
+_The secret of the highest power is simply the uniting of the outer
+agencies of expression with the Power that works from within_. Are you
+a painter? Then in the degree that you open yourself to the power of
+the forces within will you become great instead of mediocre. You can
+never put into permanent form inspirations higher than those that come
+through your own soul. In order for the higher inspirations to come
+through it, you must open your soul, you must open it fully to the
+Supreme Source of all inspiration. Are you an orator? In the degree
+that you come into harmony and work in conjunction with the higher
+powers that will speak through you will you have the real power of
+moulding and of moving men. If you use merely your physical agents,
+you will be simply a demagogue. If you open yourself so that the voice
+of God can speak through and use your physical agents, you will become
+a great and true orator, great and true in just the degree that you so
+open yourself.
+
+Are you a singer? Then open yourself and let the God within pour forth
+in the spirit of song. You will find it a thousand times easier than
+all your long and studied practice without this, and other things being
+equal, there will come to you a power of song so enchanting and so
+enrapturing that its influence upon all who hear will be irresistible.
+
+When my cabin or tent has been pitched during the summer on the edge or
+in the midst of a forest, I have sometimes lain awake on my cot in the
+early morning, just as the day was beginning to break. Silence at
+first. Then an intermittent chirp here and there. And as the
+unfolding tints of the dawn became faintly perceptible, these grew more
+and more frequent, until by and by the whole forest seemed to burst
+forth in one grand chorus of song. Wonderful! wonderful! It seemed as
+if the very trees, as if every grass-blade, as if the bushes, the very
+sky above, and the earth beneath, had part in this wonderful symphony.
+Then, as I have listened as it went on and on, I have thought. What a
+study in the matter of song! If we could but learn from the birds. If
+we could but open ourselves to the same powers and allow them to pour
+forth in us, what singers, what movers of men we might have! Nay, what
+singers and what movers of men _we would have_!
+
+Do you know the circumstances under which Mr. Sankey sang for the first
+time "The Ninety and Nine?" Says one of our able journals: "At a great
+meeting recently in Denver, Mr. Ira W. Sankey, before singing 'The
+Ninety and Nine,' which, perhaps, of all his compositions is the one
+that has brought him the most fame, gave an account of its birth.
+Leaving Glasgow for Edinburg with Mr. Moody, he stopped at a news-stand
+and bought a penny religious paper. Glancing over it as they rode on
+the cars, his eye fell on a few little verses in the corner of the
+page. Turning to Mr. Moody he said, 'I've found my hymn.' But Mr.
+Moody was busily engaged and did not hear a word. Mr. Sankey did not
+find time to make a tune for the verses, so he pasted them in his music
+scrapbook.
+
+"One day they had an unusually impressive meeting in Edinburg, in which
+Dr. Bonar had spoken with great effect on 'The Good Shepherd.' At the
+close of the address Mr. Moody beckoned to his partner to sing. He
+thought of nothing but the Twenty-third Psalm, but that he had sung so
+often. His second thought was to sing the verses he had found in the
+newspaper, but the third thought was, how could it be done when he had
+no tune. Then a fourth thought came, and that was to sing them anyway.
+He put the verses before him, touched the keys of the organ, opened his
+mouth and sang, not knowing where he was going to come out. He
+finished the first verse amid profound silence. He took a long breath
+and wondered if he could sing the second the same way. He tried and
+succeeded; after that it was easy to sing it. When he finished the
+hymn the meeting was all broken down and the throngs were crying. Mr.
+Sankey says it was the most intense moment of his life. Mr. Moody said
+he never heard a song like it. It was sung at every meeting, and was
+soon going over the world."
+
+When we open ourselves to the highest inspirations they never fail us.
+When we fail to do this we fail in attaining the highest results,
+whatever the undertaking.
+
+Are you a writer? Then remember that the one great precept underlying
+all successful literary work is, _Look into thine own heart and write.
+Be true. Be fearless. Be loyal to the promptings of your own soul_.
+Remember that an author can never write more than he himself is. If he
+would write more, then he must be more. He is simply his own
+amanuensis. He in a sense writes himself into his book. He can put no
+more into it than he himself is.
+
+If he is one of a great personality, strong in purpose, deep in
+feeling, open always to the highest inspirations, a certain indefinable
+something gets into his pages that makes them breathe forth a vital,
+living power, a power so great that each reader gets the same
+inspirations as those that spoke through the author. That that's
+written between the lines is many times more than that that's written
+in the lines. It is the spirit of the author that engenders this
+power. It is this that gives that extra twenty-five or thirty per cent
+that takes a book out of the class called medium and lifts it into the
+class called superior,--that extra per cent that makes it the one of
+the hundred that is truly successful, while the ninety-nine never see
+more than their first edition.
+
+It is this same spiritual power that the author of a great personality
+puts into his work, that causes it to go so rapidly from reader to
+reader; for the only way that any book circulates in the ultimate is
+from mouth to mouth, any book that reaches a large circulation. It is
+this that many times causes a single reader, in view of its value to
+himself, to purchase numbers of copies for others. "A good poem," says
+Emerson, "goes about the world offering itself to reasonable men, who
+read it with joy and carry it to their reasonable neighbors. Thus it
+draws to it the _wise and generous souls_, confirming their secret
+thoughts, and through their sympathy _really publishing itself_."
+
+This is the type of author who writes not with the thought of having
+what he writes become literature, but he writes with the sole thought
+of reaching the hearts of the people, giving them something of vital
+value, something that will broaden, sweeten, enrich, and beautify their
+lives; that will lead them to the finding of the higher life and with
+it the higher powers and the higher joys. It most always happens,
+however, that if he succeeds in thus reaching the people, the becoming
+literature part somehow takes care of itself, and far better than if he
+aimed for it directly.
+
+The one, on the other hand, who fears to depart from beaten paths, who
+allows himself to be bound by arbitrary rules, limits his own creative
+powers in just the degree that he allows himself so to be bound. "My
+book," says one of the greatest of modern authors, "shall smell of the
+pines and resound with the hum of insects. The swallow over my window
+shall interweave that thread or straw he carries in his bill into my
+web also." Far better, gentle sage, to have it smell of the pines and
+resound with the hum of insects than to have it sound of the rules that
+a smaller type of man gets by studying the works of a few great,
+fearless writers like yourself, and formulating from what he thus gains
+a handbook of rhetoric. "Of no use are the men who study to do exactly
+as was done before, who can never understand that _today is a new day_."
+
+When Shakspeare is charged with debts to his authors, Landor replies:
+"Yet he was more original than his originals. He breathed upon dead
+bodies and brought them into life." This is the type of man who
+doesn't move the world's way, but who moves the world his way.
+
+I had rather be an amanuensis of the Infinite God, as it is my
+privilege literally to be, than a slave to the formulated rules of any
+rhetorician, or to the opinions of any critic. Oh, the people, the
+people over and over! Let me give something to them that will lighten
+the every-day struggles of our common life, something that will add a
+little sweetness here, a little hope there, something that will make
+more thoughtful, kind, and gentle this thoughtless, animal-natured man,
+something that will awaken into activity the dormant powers of this
+timid, shrinking little woman, powers that when awakened will be
+irresistible in their influence and that will surprise even herself.
+Let me give something that will lead each one to the knowledge of the
+divinity of every human soul, something that will lead each one to the
+conscious realization of _his own divinity_, with all its attendant
+riches, and glories, and powers,--let me succeed in doing this, and I
+can then well afford to be careless as to whether the critics praise or
+whether they blame. If it is blame, then under these circumstances it
+is as the cracking of a few dead sticks on the ground below, compared
+to the matchless music that the soft spring gale is breathing through
+the great pine forest.
+
+Are you a minister, or a religious teacher of any kind? Then in the
+degree that you free yourself from the man-made theological dogmas that
+have held and that are holding and limiting so many, and in the degree
+that you open yourself to the Divine Breath, will you be one who will
+speak with authority. In the degree that you do this will you study
+the prophets less and be in the way of becoming a prophet yourself.
+The way is open for you exactly the same as it has ever been open for
+anyone.
+
+If when born into the world you came into a family of the
+English-speaking race, then in all probability you are a Christian. To
+be a Christian is to be a follower of the _teachings_ of Jesus, the
+Christ; to live in harmony with the same laws he lived in harmony with:
+in brief, _to live his life_. The great central fact of his teaching
+was this conscious union of man with the Father. It was the complete
+realization of this oneness with the Father on his part that made Jesus
+the Christ. It was through this that he attained to the power he
+attained to, that he spake as never man spake.
+
+He never claimed for himself anything that he did not claim equally for
+all mankind. "The mighty works performed by Jesus were not
+exceptional, they were the natural and necessary concomitants of his
+state; he declared them to be in accordance with unvarying order; he
+spoke of them as no unique performances, but as the outcome of a state
+to which all might attain if they chose. As a teacher and demonstrator
+of truth, according to his own confession, he did nothing for the
+purpose of proving his solitary divinity. . . . The life and triumph
+of Jesus formed an epoch in the history of the race. His coming and
+victory marked a new era in human affairs; he introduced a new because
+a more complete ideal to the earth, and when his three most intimate
+companions saw in some measure what the new life really signified, they
+fell to the earth, speechless with awe and admiration."
+
+By coming into this complete realization of his oneness with the
+Father, by mastering, absolutely mastering every circumstance that
+crossed his path through life, even to the death of the body, and by
+pointing out to us the great laws which are the same for us as they
+were for him, he has given us an ideal of life, an ideal for us to
+attain to _here and now_, that we could not have without him. _One has
+conquered first; all may conquer afterward_. By completely realizing
+it first for himself, and then by pointing out to others this great law
+of the at-one-ment with the Father, he has become probably the world's
+greatest saviour.
+
+Don't mistake his mere person for his life and his teachings, an error
+that has been made in connection with most all great teachers by their
+disciples over and over again. And if you have been among the number
+who have been preaching a dead Christ, then for humanity's sake, for
+Christ's sake, for God's sake, and I speak most reverently, don't steal
+the people's time any longer, don't waste your own time more, in giving
+them stones in place of bread, dead form for the spirit of living
+truth. In his own words, "let the dead bury their dead." Come out
+from among them. Teach as did Jesus, _the living Christ_. Teach as
+did Jesus, _the Christ within_. Find this in all its transcendent
+beauty and power,--find it as Jesus found it, then you also will be one
+who will speak with authority. Then you will be able to lead large
+numbers of others to its finding. This is the pearl of great price.
+
+It is the type of preacher whose soul has never as yet even perceived
+the _vital spirit_ of the teachings of Jesus, and who as a consequence
+instead of giving this to the people, is giving them old forms and
+dogmas and speculations, who is emptying our churches. This is the
+type whose chief efforts seem to be in getting men ready to die. The
+Germans have a saying, Never go to the second thing first. We need men
+who will teach us first how to live. Living quite invariably precedes
+dying. This also is true, that when we once know how to live, and live
+in accordance with what we know, then the dying, as we term it, will in
+a wonderfully beautiful manner take care of itself. It is in fact the
+only way in which it can be taken care of.
+
+It is on account of this emptying of our churches, for the reason that
+the people are tiring of mere husks, that many short-sighted people are
+frequently heard to say that religion is dying out. Religion dying
+out? How can anything die before it is really born? And so far as the
+people are concerned, religion is just being born, or rather they are
+just awaking to a vital, every-day religion. We are just beginning to
+get beyond the mere letter into its real, vital spirit. Religion dying
+out? Impossible even to conceive of. Religion is as much a part of
+the human soul as the human soul is a part of God. And as long as God
+and the human soul exist, religion will never die.
+
+Much of the dogma, the form, the ceremony, the mere letter that has
+stood as religion,--and honestly, many times, let us be fair enough to
+say,--this, thank God, is rapidly dying out, and never so rapidly as it
+is today. By two methods it is dying. There is, first, a large class
+of people tired of or even nauseated with it all, who conscientiously
+prefer to have nothing rather than this. They are simply abandoning
+it, the same as a tree abandons its leaves when the early winter comes.
+There is, second, a large class in whom the Divine Breath is stirring,
+who are finding the Christ within in all its matchless beauty and
+redeeming power. And this new life is pushing off the old, the same as
+in the spring the newly awakened life in the tree pushes off the old,
+lifeless leaves that have clung on during the winter, to make place for
+the new ones. And the way this old dead leaf religion is being pushed
+off on every hand is indeed most interesting and inspiring to witness.
+
+Let the places of those who have been emptying our churches by reason
+of their attempts to give stones for bread, husks and chaff for the
+life-giving grain, let their places be taken even for but a few times
+by those who are open and alive to these higher inspirations, and then
+let us again question those who feel that religion is dying out. "It
+is the live coal that kindles others, not the dead." Let their places
+be taken by those who have caught the inspiration of the Divine Breath,
+who as a consequence have a message of mighty value and import for the
+people, who by virtue of this same fact are able to present it with a
+beauty and a power so enrapturing that it takes captive the soul. Then
+we will find that the churches that today are dotted here and there
+with a few dozen people will be filled to overflowing, and there will
+not be even room enough for all who would enter. "Let the shell perish
+that the pearl may appear." We need no new revelations as yet. We
+need simply to find the vital spirit of those we already have. Then in
+due time, when we are ready for them, new ones will come, but not
+before.
+
+"What the human soul, all the world over, needs," says John Pulsford,
+"is not to be harangued, however eloquently, about the old, accepted
+religion, but to be permeated, charmed, and taken captive by _a warmer
+and more potent Breath of God than they ever felt before_. And I
+should not be true to my personal experience if I did not bear
+testimony that this Divine Breath is as exquisitely adapted to the
+requirements of the soul's nature as a June morning to the planet. Nor
+does the morning breath leave the trees freer to delight themselves and
+develop themselves under its influence than the Breath of God allows
+each human mind to unfold according to its genius. Nothing stirs the
+central wheel of the soul like the Breath of God. The whole man is
+quickened, his senses are new senses, his emotions new emotions; his
+reason, his affections, his imagination, are all new-born. The change
+is greater than he knows; he marvels at the powers in himself which the
+Breath is opening and calling forth. He finds his nature to be an
+unutterable thing; he is sure therefore that the future must have
+inconceivable surprises in store. And herein lies the evidence, which
+I commend to my readers, of the existence of God, and of the Eternal
+human Hope. Let God's Breath kindle new spring-time in the soul, start
+into life its deeply buried germs, lead in heaven's summer; you will
+then have as clear evidence of God from within as you have of the
+universe from without. Indeed, your internal experience of life, and
+illimitable Hope in God will be nearer to you, and more prevailing,
+than all your external and superficial experience of nature and the
+world."
+
+There is but one source of power in the universe. Whatever then you
+are, painter, orator, musician, writer, religious teacher, or whatever
+it may be, know that to catch and take captive the secret of power is
+so to work in conjunction with the Infinite Power, in order that it may
+continually work and manifest through you. If you fail in doing this,
+you fail in everything. If you fail in doing this, your work, whatever
+it may be, will be third or fourth rate, possibly at times second rate,
+but it positively never can be first rate. Absolutely impossible will
+it be for you ever to become a master.
+
+Whatever estimate you put upon yourself will determine the
+effectiveness of your work along any line. As long as you live merely
+in the physical and the intellectual, you set limitations to yourself
+that will hold you as long as you so live. When, however, you come
+into the realization of your oneness with the Infinite Life and Power,
+and open yourself that it may work through you, you will find that you
+have entered upon an entirely new phase of life, and that an ever
+increasing power will be yours. Then it will be true that your
+strength will be as the strength of ten because your heart is pure.
+
+ "O God! I am one forever
+ With Thee by the glory of birth;
+ The celestial powers proclaim it
+ To the utmost bounds of the earth.
+
+ "I think of this birthright immortal,
+ And my being expands like a rose,
+ As an odorous cloud of incense
+ Around and above me flows.
+
+ "A glorious song of rejoicing
+ In an innermost spirit I hear,
+ And it sounds like heavenly voices,
+ In a chorus divine and clear.
+
+ "And I feel a power uprising,
+ Like the power of an embryo god;
+ With a glorious wall it surrounds me,
+ And lifts me up from the sod."
+
+
+
+
+PLENTY OF ALL THINGS--THE LAW OF PROSPERITY.
+
+This is the Spirit of Infinite Plenty, the Power that has brought, that
+is continually bringing, all things into expression in material form.
+He who lives in the realization of his oneness with this Infinite Power
+becomes a magnet to attract to himself a continual supply of whatsoever
+things he desires.
+
+If one hold himself in the thought of poverty, he will be poor, and the
+chances are that he will remain in poverty. If he hold himself,
+whatever present conditions may be, continually in the thought of
+prosperity, he sets into operation forces that will sooner or later
+bring him into prosperous conditions. The law of attraction works
+unceasingly throughout the universe, and the one great and never
+changing fact in connection with it is, as we have found, that like
+attracts like. If we are one with this Infinite Power, this source of
+all things, then in the degree that we live in the realization of this
+oneness, in that degree do we actualize in ourselves a power that will
+bring to us an abundance of all things that it is desirable for us to
+have. In this way we come into possession of a power whereby we can
+actualize at all times those conditions that we desire.
+
+As all truth exists _now_, and awaits simply our perception of it, so
+all things necessary for present needs exist _now_, and await simply
+the power in us to appropriate them. God holds all things in His
+hands. His constant word is, My child, acknowledge me in all your
+ways, and in the degree that you do this, in the degree that you live
+this, then what is mine is yours. Jehovah-jireh,--the Lord will
+provide. "He giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." He
+giveth liberally to all men who put themselves in the right attitude to
+receive from Him. He forces no good things upon any one.
+
+The old and somewhat prevalent idea of godliness and poverty has
+absolutely no basis for its existence, and the sooner we get away from
+it the better. It had its birth in the same way that the idea of
+asceticism came into existence, when the idea prevailed that there was
+necessarily a warfare between the flesh and the spirit. It had its
+origin therefore in the minds of those who had a distorted, a one-sided
+view of life. True godliness is in a sense the same as true wisdom.
+The one who is truly wise, and who uses the forces and powers with
+which he is endowed, to him the great universe always opens her
+treasure house. The supply is always equal to the demand,--equal to
+the demand when the demand is rightly, wisely made. When one comes
+into the realization of these higher laws, then the fear of want ceases
+to tyrannize over him.
+
+Are you out of a situation? Let the fear that you will not get another
+take hold of and _dominate_ you, and the chances are that it may be a
+long time before you will get another, or the one that you do get may
+be a very poor one indeed. Whatever the circumstances, you must
+realize that you have within you forces and powers that you can set
+into operation that will triumph over any and all apparent or temporary
+losses. Set these forces into operation and you will then be placing a
+magnet that will draw to you a situation that may be far better than
+the one you have lost, and the time may soon come when you will be even
+thankful that you lost the old one.
+
+Recognize, working in and through you, the same Infinite Power that
+creates and governs all things in the universe, the same Infinite Power
+that governs the endless systems of worlds in space. Send out your
+thought,--thought is a force, and it has occult power of unknown
+proportions when rightly used and wisely directed,--send out your
+thought that the right situation or the right work will come to you at
+the right time, in the right way, and that you will recognize it when
+it comes. Hold to this thought, never allow it to weaken, hold to it,
+and continually water it with firm expectation. You in this way put
+your advertisement into a psychical, a spiritual newspaper, a paper
+that has not a limited circulation, but one that will make its way not
+only to the utmost bounds of the earth, but of the very universe
+itself. It is an advertisement, moreover, which if rightly placed on
+your part, will be far more effective than any advertisement you could
+possibly put into any printed sheet, no matter what claims are made in
+regard to its being "the great advertising medium." In the degree that
+you come into this realization and live in harmony with the higher laws
+and forces, in that degree will you be able to do this effectively.
+
+If you wish to look through the "want" columns of the newspapers, then
+do it not in the ordinary way. Put the higher forces into operation
+and thus place it on a higher basis. As you take up the paper, take
+this attitude of mind: If there is here an advertisement that it will
+be well for me to reply to, the moment I come to it I will recognize
+it. Affirm this, believe it, expect it. If you do this in full faith
+you will somehow feel the intuition the moment you come to the right
+one, and this intuition will be nothing more nor less than your own
+soul speaking to you. When it speaks then act at once.
+
+If you get the situation and it does not prove to be exactly what you
+want, if you feel that you are capable of filling a better one, then
+the moment you enter upon it take the attitude of mind that this
+situation is the stepping-stone that will lead you to one that will be
+still better. Hold this thought steadily, affirm it, believe it,
+expect it, and all the time be faithful, _absolutely faithful_ to the
+situation in which you are at present placed. If you are _not_
+faithful to it then the chances are that it will not be the
+stepping-stone to something better, but to something poorer. If you
+are faithful to it, the time may soon come when you will be glad and
+thankful, when you will rejoice, that you lost your old position.
+
+This is the law of prosperity: When apparent adversity comes, be not
+cast down by it, but make the best of it, and always look forward for
+better things, for conditions more prosperous. To hold yourself in
+this attitude of mind is to set into operation subtle, silent, and
+irresistible forces that sooner or later will actualize in material
+form that which is today merely an idea. But ideas have occult power,
+and ideas, when rightly planted and rightly tended, are the seeds that
+actualize material conditions.
+
+Never give a moment to complaint, but utilize the time that would
+otherwise be spent in this way in looking forward and actualizing the
+conditions you desire. Suggest prosperity to yourself. See yourself
+in a prosperous condition. Affirm that you will before long be in a
+prosperous condition. Affirm it calmly and quietly, but strongly and
+confidently. Believe it, believe it absolutely. Expect it,--keep it
+continually watered with expectation. You thus make yourself a magnet
+to attract the things that you desire. Don't be afraid to suggest, to
+affirm these things, for by so doing you put forth an ideal which will
+begin to clothe itself in material form. In this way you are utilizing
+agents among the most subtle and powerful in the universe. If you are
+particularly desirous for anything that you feel it is good and right
+for you to have, something that will broaden your life or that will
+increase your usefulness to others, simply hold the thought that at the
+right time, in the right way, and through the right instrumentality,
+there will come to you or there will open up for you the way whereby
+you can attain what you desire.
+
+I know of a young lady who a short time ago wanted some money very
+badly. She wanted it for a good purpose; she saw no reason why she
+shouldn't have it. She is one who has come into an understanding of
+the power of the interior forces. She took and held herself in the
+attitude of mind we have just pointed out. In the morning she entered
+into the silence for a few moments. In this way she brought herself
+into a more complete harmony with the higher powers. Before the day
+closed a gentleman called, a member of a family with which she was
+acquainted. He asked her if she would do for the family some work that
+they wanted done. She was a little surprised that they should ask her
+to do this particular kind of work, but she said to herself, "Here is a
+call. I will respond and see what it will lead to." She undertook the
+work. _She did it well_. When she had completed it there was put into
+her hands an amount of money far beyond what she had expected. She
+felt that it was an amount too large for the work she had done. She
+protested. They replied, "No; you have done us a service that
+transcends in value the amount we offer to pay you." The sum thus
+received was more than sufficient for the work she wished to accomplish.
+
+This is but one of many instances in connection with the wise and
+effective use of the higher powers. It also carries a lesson,--Don't
+fold your hands and expect to see things drop into your lap, but set
+into operation the higher forces and then take hold of the first thing
+that offers itself. Do what your hands find to do, _and do it well_.
+If this work is not thoroughly satisfactory to you, then affirm,
+believe, and expect that it is the agency that will lead you to
+something better. "The basis for attracting the best of all the world
+can give to you is to first surround, own, and live in these things in
+mind, or what is falsely called imagination. All so-called imaginings
+are realities and forces of unseen element. Live in mind in a palace
+and gradually palatial surroundings will gravitate to you. But so
+living is _not_ pining, or longing, or complainingly wishing. It is
+when you are 'down in the world,' calmly and persistently seeing
+yourself as up. It is when you are now compelled to eat from a tin
+plate, regarding that tin plate as only the certain step to one of
+silver. It is not envying and growling at other people who have silver
+plate. That growling is just so much capital stock taken from the bank
+account of mental force."
+
+A friend who knows the power of the interior forces, and whose life is
+guided in every detail by them, has given a suggestion in this form:
+When you are in the arms of the bear, even though he is hugging you,
+look him in the face and laugh, but all the time keep your eye on the
+bull. If you allow all of your attention to be given to the work of
+the bear, the bull may get entirely out of your sight. In other words,
+if you yield to adversity the chances are that it will master you, but
+if you recognize in yourself the power of mastery over conditions then
+adversity will yield to you, and will be changed into prosperity. If
+when it comes you calmly and quietly recognize it, and use the time
+that might otherwise be spent in regrets, and fears, and forebodings,
+in setting into operation the powerful forces within you, it will soon
+take its leave.
+
+Faith, absolute dogmatic faith, is the only law of true success. When
+we recognize the fact that a man carries his success or his failure
+with him, and that it does not depend upon outside conditions, we will
+come into the possession of powers that will quickly change outside
+conditions into agencies that make for success. When we come into this
+higher realization and bring our lives into complete harmony with the
+higher laws, we will then be able so to focus and direct the awakened
+interior forces, that they will go out and return laden with that for
+which they are sent. We will then be great enough to attract success,
+and it will not always be apparently just a little ways ahead. We can
+then establish in ourselves a centre so strong that instead of running
+hither and thither for this or that, we can stay at home and draw to us
+the conditions we desire. If we firmly establish and hold to this
+centre, things will seem continually to come our way.
+
+The majority of people of the modern world are looking for things that
+are practical and that can be utilized in every-day life. The more
+carefully we examine into the laws underlying the great truths we are
+considering, the more we will find that they are not only eminently
+practical, but in a sense, and in the deepest and truest sense, they
+are the only practical things there are.
+
+There are people who continually pride themselves upon being
+exceedingly "practical," but many times those who of themselves think
+nothing about this are the most practical people the world knows. And,
+on the other hand, those who take great pride in speaking of their own
+practicality are many times the least practical. Or again, in some
+ways they may be practical, but so far as life in its totality is
+concerned, they are absurdly impractical.
+
+What profit, for example, can there be for the man who, materially
+speaking, though he has gained the whole world, has never yet become
+acquainted with his own soul? There are multitudes of men all about us
+who are entirely missing the real life, men who have not learned even
+the a, b, c of true living. Slaves they are, abject slaves to their
+temporary material accumulations. Men who thinking they possess their
+wealth are on the contrary completely possessed by it. Men whose lives
+are comparatively barren in service to those about them and to the
+world at large. Men who when they can no longer hold the body,--the
+agency by means of which they are related to the material world,--will
+go out poor indeed, pitiably poor. Unable to take even the smallest
+particle of their accumulations with them, they will enter upon the
+other form of life naked and destitute.
+
+The kindly deeds, the developed traits of character, the realized
+powers of the soul, the real riches of the inner life and unfoldment,
+all those things that become our real and eternal possessions, have
+been given no place in their lives, and so of the real things of life
+they are destitute. Nay, many times worse than destitute. We must not
+suppose that habits once formed are any more easily broken off in the
+other form of life than they are in this. If one voluntarily grows a
+certain mania here, we must not suppose that the mere dropping of the
+body makes all conditions perfect. All is law, all is cause and
+effect. As we sow, so shall we also reap, not only in this life but in
+all lives.
+
+He who is enslaved with the sole desire for material possessions here
+will continue to be enslaved even after he can no longer retain his
+body. Then, moreover, he will have not even the means of gratifying
+his desires. Dominated by this habit, he will be unable to set his
+affections, for a time at least, upon other things, and the desire,
+without the means of gratifying it will be doubly torturing to him.
+Perchance this torture may be increased by his seeing the accumulations
+he thought were his now being scattered and wasted by spendthrifts. He
+wills his property, as we say, to others, but he can have no word as to
+its use.
+
+How foolish, then, for us to think that any material possessions _are
+ours_. How absurd, for example, for one to fence off a number of acres
+of God's earth and say they are _his_. Nothing is ours that we cannot
+retain. The things that come into our hands come not for the purpose
+of being possessed, as we say, much less for the purpose of being
+hoarded. They come into our hands to be used, to be wisely used. We
+are stewards merely, and as stewards we shall be held accountable for
+the way we use whatever is entrusted to us. That great law of
+compensation that runs through all life is wonderfully exact in its
+workings, although we may not always fully comprehend it, or even
+recognize it when it operates in connection with ourselves.
+
+The one who has come into the realization of the higher life no longer
+has a desire for the accumulation of enormous wealth, any more than he
+has a desire for any other _excess_. In the degree that he comes into
+the recognition of the fact that he is wealthy within, external wealth
+becomes less important in his estimation. When he comes into the
+realization of the fact that there is a source within from which he can
+put forth a power to call to him and actualize in his hands at any time
+a sufficient supply for all his needs, he no longer burdens himself
+with vast material accumulations that require his constant care and
+attention, and thus take his time and his thought from the real things
+of life. In other words, he first finds the _kingdom_, and he realizes
+that when he has found this, all other things follow in full measure.
+
+It is as hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, said
+the Master,--he who having nothing had everything,--as it is for a
+camel to pass through the eye of a needle. In other words, if a man
+give all his time to the accumulation, the hoarding of outward material
+possessions far beyond what he can possibly ever use, what time has he
+for the finding of that wonderful kingdom, which when found, brings all
+else with it. Which is better, to have millions of dollars, and to
+have the burden of taking care of it all,--for the one always involves
+the other,--or to come into the knowledge of such laws and forces that
+every need will be supplied in good time, to know that no good thing
+shall be withheld, to know that we have it in our power to make the
+supply always equal to the demand?
+
+The one who enters into the realm of this higher knowledge, never cares
+to bring upon himself the species of insanity that has such a firm hold
+upon so many in the world today. He avoids it as he would avoid any
+loathsome disease of the body. When we come into the realization of
+the higher powers, we will then be able to give more attention to the
+real life, instead of giving so much to the piling up of vast
+possessions that hamper rather than help it. It is the medium ground
+that brings the true solution here, the same as it is in all phases of
+life.
+
+Wealth beyond a certain amount cannot be used, and when it cannot be
+used it then becomes a hindrance rather than an aid, a curse rather
+than a blessing. All about us are persons with lives now stunted and
+dwarfed who could make them rich and beautiful, filled with a perennial
+joy, if they would begin wisely to use that which they have spent the
+greater portion of their lives in accumulating.
+
+The man who accumulates during his entire life, and who leaves even all
+when he goes out for "benevolent purposes," comes far short of the
+ideal life. It is but a poor excuse of a life. It is not especially
+commendable in me to give a pair of old, worn-out shoes that I shall
+never use again to another who is in need of shoes. But it is
+commendable, if indeed doing anything we ought to do can be spoken of
+as being commendable, it is commendable for me to give a good pair of
+strong shoes to the man who in the midst of a severe winter is
+practically shoeless, the man who is exerting every effort to earn an
+honest living and thereby take care of his family's needs. And if in
+giving the shoes I also give myself, he then has a double gift, and I a
+double blessing.
+
+There is no wiser use that those who have great accumulations can make
+of them than wisely to put them into life, into character, _day by day
+while they live_. In this way their lives will be continually enriched
+and increased. The time will come when it will be regarded as a
+disgrace for a man to die and leave vast accumulations behind him.
+
+Many a person is living in a palace today who in the real life is
+poorer than many a one who has not even a roof to cover him. A man may
+own and live in a palace, but the palace for him may be a pool-house
+still.
+
+Moth and rust are nature's wise provisions--God's methods--for
+disintegrating and scattering, in this way getting ready for use in new
+forms, that which is hoarded and consequently serving no use. There is
+also a great law continually operating whose effects are to dwarf and
+deaden the powers of true enjoyment, as well as all the higher
+faculties of the one who hoards.
+
+Multitudes of people are continually keeping away from them higher and
+better things because they are forever clinging on to the old. If they
+would use and pass on the old, room would be made for new things to
+come. Hoarding always brings loss in one form or another. Using,
+wisely using, brings an ever renewing gain.
+
+If the tree should as ignorantly and as greedily hold on to this year's
+leaves when they have served their purpose, where would be the full and
+beautiful new life that will be put forth in the spring? Gradual decay
+and finally death would be the result. If the tree is already dead,
+then it may perhaps be well enough for it to cling on to the old, for
+no new leaves will come. But as long as the life in the tree is
+active, it is _necessary_ that it rid itself of the old ones, that room
+may be made for the new.
+
+Opulence is the law of the universe, an abundant supply for every need
+if nothing is put in the way of its coming. The natural and the normal
+life for us is this,--To have such a fullness of life and power by
+living so continually in the realization of our oneness with the
+Infinite Life and Power that we find ourselves in the constant
+possession of an abundant supply of all things needed.
+
+Then not by hoarding but by wisely using and ridding ourselves of
+things as they come, an ever renewing supply will be ours, a supply far
+better adapted to present needs than the old could possibly be. In
+this way we not only come into possession of the richest treasures of
+the Infinite Good ourselves, but we also become open channels through
+which they can flow to others.
+
+
+
+
+HOW MEN HAVE BECOME PROPHETS, SEERS, SAGES, AND SAVIOURS.
+
+I have tried thus far to deal fairly with you in presenting these vital
+truths, and have spoken of everything on the basis of our own reason
+and insight. It has been my aim to base nothing on the teachings of
+others, though they may be the teachings of those inspired. Let us now
+look for a moment at these same great truths in the light of the
+thoughts and the teachings as put forth by some of the world's great
+thinkers and inspired teachers.
+
+The sum and substance of the thought presented in these pages is, you
+will remember, that the great central fact in human life is the coming
+into a conscious, vital realization of our oneness with the Infinite
+Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflow. I and
+the Father are one, said the Master. In this we see how he recognized
+his oneness with the Father's life. Again he said, The words that I
+speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in
+me, He doeth the works. In this we see how clearly he recognized the
+fact that he of himself could do nothing, only as he worked in
+conjunction with the Father. Again, My Father works and I work. In
+other words, my Father sends the power, I open myself to it, and work
+in conjunction with it.
+
+Again he said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
+and all these things shall be added unto you. And he left us not in
+the dark as to exactly what he meant by this, for again he said. Say
+not Lo here nor lo there, know ye not that the kingdom of heaven is
+within you? According to his teaching, the kingdom of God and the
+kingdom of heaven were one and the same. If, then, his teaching is
+that the kingdom of heaven is within us, do we not clearly see that,
+putting it in other words, his injunction is nothing more nor less
+than, Come ye into a conscious realization of your oneness with the
+Father's life. As you realize this oneness you find the kingdom, and
+when you find this, all things else shall follow.
+
+The story of the prodigal son is another beautiful illustration of this
+same great teaching of the Master. After the prodigal had spent
+everything, after he had wandered in all the realms of the physical
+senses in the pursuit of happiness and pleasure, and found that this
+did not satisfy but only brought him to the level of the animal
+creation, he then came to his senses and said, I will arise and go to
+my Father. In other words, after all these wanderings, his own soul at
+length spoke to him and said, You are not a mere animal. You are your
+Father's child. Arise and go to your Father, who holds all things in
+His hands. Again, the Master said, Call no man your Father upon the
+earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Here he recognized
+the fact that the real life is direct from the life of God. Our
+fathers and our mothers are the agents that give us the bodies, the
+houses in which we live, but the real life comes from the Infinite
+Source of Life, God, who is our Father.
+
+One day word was brought to the Master that his mother and his brethren
+were without, wishing to speak with him. Who is my mother and who are
+my brethren? said he. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
+is in heaven, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
+
+Many people are greatly enslaved by what we term ties of relationship.
+It is well, however, for us to remember that our true relatives are not
+necessarily those who are connected with us by ties of blood. Our
+truest relatives are those who are nearest akin to us in mind, in soul,
+in spirit. Our nearest relatives may be those living on the opposite
+side of the globe,--people whom we may never have seen as yet, but to
+whom we will yet be drawn, either in this form of life or in another,
+through that ever working and never failing law of attraction.
+
+When the Master gave the injunction, Call no man your father upon the
+earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven, he here gave us the
+basis for that grand conception of the fatherhood of God. And if God
+is equally the Father of all, then we have here the basis for the
+brotherhood of man. But there is, in a sense, a conception still
+higher than this, namely, the oneness of man and God, and hence the
+oneness of the whole human race. When we realize this fact, then we
+clearly see how in the degree that we come into the realization of our
+oneness with the Infinite Life, and so, every step that we make
+Godward, we aid in lifting all mankind up to this realization, and
+enable them, in turn, to make a step God-ward.
+
+The Master again pointed out our true relations with the Infinite Life
+when he said, Except ye become as little children ye shall not enter
+into the kingdom of heaven. When he said, Man shall not live by bread
+alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, he
+gave utterance to a truth of far greater import than we have as yet
+commenced fully to grasp. Here he taught that even the physical life
+can not be maintained by material food alone, but that one's connection
+with this Infinite Source determines to a very great extent the
+condition of even the bodily structure and activities. Blessed are the
+pure in heart for they shall see God. In other words, blessed are they
+who in all the universe recognize only God, for by such God shall be
+seen.
+
+Said the great Hindu sage, Manu, He who in his own soul perceives the
+Supreme Soul in all beings, and acquires equanimity toward them all,
+attains the highest bliss. It was Athanasius who said, Even we may
+become Gods walking about in the flesh. The same great truth we are
+considering is the one that runs through the life and the teachings of
+Gautama, he who became the Buddha. People are in bondage, said he,
+because they have not yet removed the idea of _I_. To do away with all
+sense of separateness, and to recognize the oneness of the self with
+the Infinite, is the spirit that breathes through all his teachings.
+Running through the lives of all the mediaeval mystics was this same
+great truth,--union with God.
+
+Then, coming nearer to our own time, we find the highly illumined seer,
+Emanuel Swedenborg, pointing out the great laws in connection with what
+he termed, the divine influx, and how we may open ourselves more fully
+to its operations. The great central fact in the religion and worship
+of the Friends is, the inner light,--God in the soul of man speaking
+directly in just the degree that the soul is opened to Him. The
+inspired one, the seer who when with us lived at Concord, recognized
+the same great truth when he said, We are all inlets to the great sea
+of life. And it was by opening himself so fully to its inflow that he
+became one inspired.
+
+All through the world's history we find that the men and the women who
+have entered into the realm of true wisdom and power, and hence into
+the realm of true peace and joy, have lived in harmony with this Higher
+Power. David was strong and powerful and his soul burst forth in
+praise and adoration in just the degree that he listened to the voice
+of God and lived in accordance with his higher promptings. Whenever he
+failed to do this we hear his soul crying out in anguish and
+lamentation. The same is true of every nation or people. When the
+Israelites acknowledged God and followed according to His leadings they
+were prosperous, contented, and powerful, and nothing could prevail
+against them. When they depended upon their own strength alone and
+failed to recognize God as the source of their strength, we find them
+overcome, in bondage, or despair.
+
+A great immutable law underlies the truth, Blessed are they that hear
+the word of God and do it. Then follows all. We are wise in the
+degree that we live according to the higher light.
+
+All the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world's history
+became what they became, and consequently had the powers they had,
+through an entirely natural process. They all recognized and came into
+the conscious realization of their oneness with the Infinite Life. God
+is no respecter of persons. He doesn't create prophets, seers, sages,
+and saviours as such. He creates men. But here and there one
+recognizes his true identity, recognizes the oneness of his life with
+the Source whence it came. He lives in the realization of this
+oneness, and in turn becomes a prophet, seer, sage, or saviour.
+Neither is God a respecter of races or of nations. He has no chosen
+people; but here and there a race or nation becomes a respecter of God
+and hence lives the life of a chosen people.
+
+There has been no age or place of miracles in distinction from any
+other age or place. What we term miracles have abounded in all places
+and at all times where conditions have been made for them. They are
+being performed today just as much as they ever have been when the laws
+governing them are respected. Mighty men, we are told they were,
+mighty men who walked with God; and in the words "who walked with God"
+lies the secret of the words "mighty men." Cause, effect.
+
+The Lord never prospers any man, but the man prospers because he
+acknowledges the Lord, and lives in accordance with the higher laws.
+Solomon was given the opportunity of choosing whatever he desired; his
+better judgment prevailed and he chose wisdom. But when he chose
+wisdom he found that it included all else beside. We are told that God
+hardened Pharaoh's heart. I don't believe it. God never hardens any
+one's heart. Pharaoh hardened his own heart and God was blamed for it.
+But when Pharaoh hardened his heart and disobeyed the voice of God, the
+plagues came. Again, cause, effect. Had he, on the contrary,
+listened,--in other words, had he opened himself to and obeyed the
+voice of God, the plagues would not have come.
+
+We can be our own best friends or we can be our own worst enemies. In
+the degree that we become friends to the highest and best within us, we
+become friends to all; and in the degree that we become enemies to the
+highest and best within us, do we become enemies to all. In the degree
+that we open ourselves to the higher powers and let them manifest
+through us, then by the very inspirations we carry with us do we become
+in a sense the saviours of our fellow-men, and in this way we all are,
+or may become, the saviours one of another. In this way you may
+become, indeed, one of the world's redeemers.
+
+
+
+
+THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF ALL RELIGIONS--THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION.
+
+The great truth we are considering is the fundamental principle running
+through all religions. We find it in every one. In regard to it all
+agree. It is, moreover, a great truth in regard to which all people
+can agree, whether they belong to the same or to different religions.
+People always quarrel about the trifles, about their personal views of
+minor insignificant points. They always come together in the presence
+of great fundamental truths, the threads of which run through all. The
+quarrels are in connection with the lower self, the agreements are in
+connection with the higher self.
+
+A place may have its factions that quarrel and fight among themselves,
+but let a great calamity come upon the land, flood, famine, pestilence,
+and these little personal differences are entirely forgotten and all
+work shoulder to shoulder in the one great cause. The changing, the
+evolving self gives rise to quarrels; the permanent, the soul self
+unites all in the highest efforts of love and service.
+
+Patriotism is a beautiful thing; it is well for me to love my country,
+but why should I love my own country more than I love all others? If I
+love my own and hate others, I then show my limitations, and my
+patriotism will stand the test not even for my own. If I love my own
+country and in the same way love all other countries, then I show the
+largeness of my nature, and a patriotism of this kind is noble and
+always to be relied upon.
+
+The view of God in regard to which we are agreed, that He is the
+Infinite Spirit of Life and Power that is back of all, that is working
+in and through all, that is the life of all, is a matter in regard to
+which all men, all religions can agree. With this view there can be no
+infidels or atheists. There are atheists and infidels in connection
+with many views that are held concerning God, and thank God there are.
+Even devout and earnest people among us attribute things to God that no
+respectable men or women would permit to be attributed to themselves.
+This view is satisfying to those who cannot see how God can be angry
+with his children, jealous, vindictive. A display of these qualities
+always lessens our respect for men and women, and still we attribute
+them to God.
+
+The earnest, sincere heretic is one of the greatest friends true
+religion can have. Heretics are among God's greatest servants. They
+are among the true servants of mankind. Christ was one of the greatest
+heretics the world has ever known. He allowed himself to be bound by
+no established or orthodox teachings or beliefs. Christ is
+preeminently a type of the universal. John the Baptist is a type of
+the personal. John dressed in a particular way, ate a particular kind
+of food, belonged to a particular order, lived and taught in a
+particular locality, and he himself recognized the fact that he must
+decrease while Christ must increase. Christ, on the other hand, gave
+himself absolutely no limitations. He allowed himself to be bound by
+nothing. He was absolutely universal and as a consequence taught not
+for his own particular day, but for all time.
+
+This mighty truth which we have agreed upon as the great central fact
+of human life is the golden thread that runs through all religions.
+When we make it the paramount fact in our lives we will find that minor
+differences, narrow prejudices, and all these laughable absurdities
+will so fall away by virtue of their very insignificance, that a Jew
+can worship equally as well in a Catholic cathedral, a Catholic in a
+Jewish synagogue, a Buddhist in a Christian church, a Christian in a
+Buddhist temple. Or all can worship equally well about their own
+hearth-stones, or out on the hillside, or while pursuing the avocations
+of every-day life. For true worship, only God and the human soul are
+necessary. It does not depend upon times, or seasons, or occasions.
+Anywhere and at any time God and man in the bush may meet.
+
+This is the great fundamental principle of the universal religion upon
+which all can agree. This is the great fact that is permanent. There
+are many things in regard to which all cannot agree. These are the
+things that are personal, non-essential, and so as time passes they
+gradually fall away. One who doesn't grasp this great truth, a
+Christian, for example, asks "But was not Christ inspired?" Yes, but
+he was not the only one inspired. Another who is a Buddhist asks, "Was
+not Buddha inspired?" Yes, but he was not the only one inspired. A
+Christian asks, "But is not our Christian Bible inspired?" Yes, but
+there are other inspired scriptures. A Brahmin or a Buddhist asks,
+"Are not the Vedas inspired?" Yes, but there are other inspired sacred
+books. Your error is not in believing that your particular scriptures
+are inspired, but your error is--and you show your absurdly laughable
+limitations by it--your inability to see that other scriptures are also
+inspired.
+
+The sacred books, the inspired writings, all come from the same
+source,--God, God speaking through the souls of those who open
+themselves that He may thus speak. Some may be more inspired than
+others. It depends entirely on the relative degree that this one or
+that one opens himself to the Divine voice. Says one of the inspired
+writers in the Hebrew scriptures, Wisdom is the breath of the power of
+God, and _in all ages_ entering into holy souls she maketh them friends
+of God and prophets.
+
+Let us not be among the number so dwarfed, so limited, so bigoted as to
+think that the Infinite God has revealed Himself to one little handful
+of His children, in one little quarter of the globe, and at one
+particular period of time. This isn't the pattern by which God works.
+Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every
+nation he that revereth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of
+Him, says the Christian Bible.
+
+When we fully realize this truth we will then see that it makes but
+little difference what particular form of religion one holds to, but it
+does make a tremendous difference how true he is to the _vital_
+principles of this one. In the degree that we love self less and love
+truth more, in that degree will we care less about converting people to
+our particular way of thinking, but all the more will we care to aid
+them in coming into the full realization of truth through the channels
+best adapted to them. The doctrine of our master, says the Chinese,
+consisted solely in integrity of heart. We will find as we search that
+this is the doctrine of every one who is at all worthy the name of
+master.
+
+The great fundamental principles of all religions are the same. They
+differ only in their minor details according to the various degrees of
+unfoldment of different people. I am sometimes asked, "To what
+religion do you belong?" What religion? Why, bless you, there is only
+one religion,--the religion of the living God. There are, of course,
+the various creeds of the same religion arising from the various
+interpretations of different people, but they are all of minor
+importance. The more unfolded the soul the less important do these
+minor differences become. There are also, of course, the various
+so-called religions. There is in reality, however, but one religion.
+
+The moment we lose sight of this great fact we depart from the real,
+vital spirit of true religion and allow ourselves to be limited and
+bound by form. In the degree that we do this we build fences around
+ourselves which keep others away from us, and which also prevent our
+coming into the realization of universal truth; there is nothing worthy
+the name of truth that is not universal.
+
+There is only one religion. "Whatever road I take joins the highway
+that leads to Thee," says the inspired writer in the Persian
+scriptures. "Broad is the carpet God has spread, and beautiful the
+colors he has given it." "The pure man respects every form of faith,"
+says the Buddhist. "My doctrine makes no difference between high and
+low, rich and poor; like the sky, it has room for all, and like the
+water, it washes all alike." "The broad minded see the truth in
+different religions; the narrow minded see only the differences," says
+the Chinese. The Hindu has said, "The narrow minded ask, 'Is this man
+a stranger, or is he of our tribe?' But to those in whom love dwells,
+the whole world is but one family." "Altar flowers are of many
+species, but all worship is one." "Heaven is a palace with many doors,
+and each may enter in his own way." "Are we not all children of one
+Father?" says the Christian. "God has made of one blood all nations,
+to dwell on the face of the earth." It was a latter-day seer who said,
+"That which was profitable to the soul of man the Father revealed to
+the ancients; that which is profitable to the soul of man today
+revealeth He this day."
+
+It was Tennyson who said, "I dreamed that stone by stone I reared a
+sacred fane, a temple, neither pagoda, mosque, nor church, but loftier,
+simpler, always open-doored to every breath from heaven, and Truth and
+Peace and Love and Justice came and dwelt therein."
+
+Religion in its true sense is the most joyous thing the human soul can
+know, and when the real religion is realized, we will find that it will
+be an agent of peace, of joy, and of happiness, and never an agent of
+gloomy, long-faced sadness. It will then be attractive to all and
+repulsive to none. Let our churches grasp these great truths, let them
+give their time and attention to bringing people into a knowledge of
+their true selves, into a knowledge of their relations, of their
+oneness, with the Infinite God, and such joy will be the result, and
+such crowds will flock to them, that their very walls will seem almost
+to burst, and such songs of joy will continually pour forth as will
+make all people in love with the religion that makes for every-day
+life, and hence the religion that is true and vital. Adequacy for
+life, adequacy for everyday life here and now, must be the test of all
+true religion. If it does not bear this test, then it simply is not
+religion. We need an everyday, a this-world religion. All time spent
+in connection with any other is worse than wasted. The eternal life
+that we are now living will be well lived if we take good care of each
+little period of time as it presents itself day after day. If we fail
+in doing this, we fail in everything.
+
+
+
+
+ENTERING NOW INTO THE REALIZATION OF THE HIGHEST RICHES.
+
+I hear the question, What can be said in a concrete way in regard to
+the method of coming into this realization? The facts underlying it
+are, indeed, most beautiful and true, but how can we actualize in
+ourselves the realization that carries with it such wonderful results?
+
+The method is not difficult if we do not of ourselves make it
+difficult. The principal word to be used is the word,--Open. Simply
+to open your mind and heart to this divine inflow which is waiting only
+for the opening of the gate, that it may enter. It is like opening the
+gate of the trough which conducts the water from the reservoir above
+into the field below. The water, by virtue of its very nature, will
+rush in and irrigate the field if the gate is but opened. As to the
+realization of our oneness with this Infinite Life and Power, after
+seeing, as I think we have clearly seen by this time, the relations it
+bears to us and we to it, the chief thing to be said is
+simply,--Realize your oneness with it. The open mind and heart whereby
+one is brought into the receptive attitude is the first thing
+necessary. Then the earnest, sincere desire.
+
+It may be an aid at first to take yourself for a few moments each day
+into the quiet, into the silence, where you will not be agitated by the
+disturbances that enter in through the avenues of the physical senses.
+There in the quiet alone with God, put yourself into the receptive
+attitude. Calmly, quietly, and expectantly desire that this
+realization break in upon and take possession of your soul. As it
+breaks in upon and takes possession of the soul, it will manifest
+itself to your mind, and from this you will feel its manifestations in
+every part of your body. Then in the degree that you open yourself to
+it you will feel a quiet, peaceful, illuminating power that will
+harmonize body, soul, and mind, and that will then harmonize these with
+all the world. You are now on the mountain top, and the voice of God
+is speaking to you. _Then, as you descend, carry this realization with
+you_. Live in it, waking, working, thinking, walking, sleeping. In
+this way, although you may not be continually on the mountain top, you
+will nevertheless be continually living in the realization of all the
+beauty, and inspiration, and power you have felt there.
+
+Moreover, the time will come when in the busy office or on the noisy
+street you can enter into the silence by simply drawing the mantle of
+your own thoughts about you and realizing that there and everywhere the
+Spirit of Infinite Life, Love, Wisdom, Peace, Power, and Plenty is
+guiding, keeping, protecting, leading you. This is the spirit of
+continual prayer. This it is to pray without ceasing. This it is to
+know and to walk with God. _This it is to find the Christ within_.
+This is the new birth, the second birth. First that which is natural,
+then that which is spiritual. It is thus that the old man Adam is put
+off and the new man Christ is put on. This it is to be saved unto life
+eternal, whatever one's form of belief or faith may be; for it is life
+eternal to know God. "The Sweet By and By" will be a song of the past.
+We will create a new song--"The Beautiful Eternal Now."
+
+This is the realization that you and I can come into this very day,
+this very hour, this very minute, if we desire and if we will it. And
+if now we merely set our faces in the right direction, it is then but a
+matter of time until we come into the full splendors of this complete
+realization. To set one's face in the direction of the mountain and
+then simply to journey on, whether rapidly or more slowly, will bring
+him to it. But unless one set his face in the right direction and make
+the start, he will not reach it. It was Goethe who said:
+
+ "Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute:
+ What you can do, or dream you can, begin it;
+ Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
+ Only engage and then the mind grows heated;
+ Begin and then the work will be completed."
+
+
+Said the young man, Gautama Siddhartha, I have awakened to the truth
+and I am resolved to accomplish my purpose,--Verily I shall become a
+Buddha. It was this that brought him into the life of the Enlightened
+One, and so into the realization of Nirvana right here in this life.
+That this same realization and life is within the possibilities of all
+here and now was his teaching. It was this that has made him the Light
+Bearer to millions of people.
+
+Said the young man, Jesus, Know ye not that I must be about my Father's
+business? Making this the one great purpose of his life he came into
+the full and complete realization,--I and the Father are one. He thus
+came into the full realization of the Kingdom of Heaven right here in
+this life. That all could come into this same realization and life
+here and now was his teaching. It was this that has made him the Light
+Bearer to millions of people.
+
+And so far as practical things are concerned, we may hunt the wide
+universe through and we shall find that there is no injunction more
+practical than, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
+and all other things shall be added unto you. And in the light of what
+has gone before, I think there is no one who is open to truth and
+honest with himself who will fail to grasp the underlying reason and
+see the great laws upon which it is based.
+
+Personally I know lives that have so fully entered into the kingdom
+through the realization of their oneness with the Infinite Life and
+through the opening of themselves so fully to its divine guidance, that
+they are most wonderful concrete examples of the reality of this great
+and all-important truth. They are people whose lives are in this way
+guided not only in a general way, but literally in every detail. They
+simply live in the realization of their oneness with this Infinite
+Power, continually in harmony with it, and so continually in the
+realization of the kingdom of heaven. An abundance of all things is
+theirs. They are never at a loss for anything. The supply seems
+always equal to the demand. They never seem at a loss in regard to
+what to do or how to do it. Their lives are care-less lives. They are
+lives free from care because they are continually conscious of the fact
+that the higher powers are doing the guiding, and they are relieved of
+the responsibility. To enter into detail in connection with some of
+these lives, and particularly with two or three that come to my mind at
+this moment, would reveal facts that no doubt to some would seem almost
+incredible if not miraculous. But let us remember that what is
+possible for one life to realize is possible for all. This is indeed
+the natural and the normal life, that which will be the every-day life
+of every one who comes into and who lives in this higher realization
+and so in harmony with the higher laws. This is simply getting into
+the current of that divine sequence running throughout the universe;
+and when once in it, life then ceases to be a plodding and moves along
+day after day much as the tides flow, much as the planets move in their
+courses, much as the seasons come and go.
+
+All the frictions, all the uncertainties, all the ills, the sufferings,
+the fears, the forebodings, the perplexities of life come to us because
+we are out of harmony with the divine order of things. They will
+continue to come as long as we so live. Rowing against the tide is
+hard and uncertain. To go with the tide and thus to take advantage of
+the working of a great natural force is safe and easy. To come into
+the conscious, vital realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life
+and Power is to come into the current of this divine sequence. Coming
+thus into harmony with the Infinite, brings us in turn into harmony
+with all about us, into harmony with the life of the heavens, into
+harmony with all the universe. And above all, it brings us into
+harmony with ourselves, so that body, soul, and mind become perfectly
+harmonized, and when this is so, life becomes full and complete.
+
+The sense life then no longer masters and enslaves us. The physical is
+subordinated to and ruled by the mental; this in turn is subordinated
+to and continually illumined by the spiritual. Life is then no longer
+the poor, one-sided thing it is in so many cases; but the three-fold,
+the all-round life with all its beauties and ever increasing joys and
+powers is entered upon. Thus it is that we are brought to realize that
+the middle path is the great solution of life; neither asceticism on
+the one hand nor license and perverted use on the other. Everything is
+for use, but all must be wisely used in order to be fully enjoyed.
+
+As we live in these higher realizations the senses are not ignored but
+are ever more fully perfected. As the body becomes less gross and
+heavy, finer in its texture and form, all the senses become finer, so
+that powers we do not now realize as belonging to us gradually develop.
+Thus we come, in a perfectly natural and normal way, into the
+super-conscious realms whereby we make it possible for the higher laws
+and truths to be revealed to us. As we enter into these realms we are
+then not among those who give their time in speculating as to whether
+this one or that one had the insight and the powers attributed to him,
+but we are able _to know_ for ourselves. Neither are we among those
+who attempt to lead the people upon the hearsay of some one else, but
+we know whereof we speak, and only thus can we speak with authority.
+There are many things that we cannot know until by living the life we
+bring ourselves into that state where it is possible for them to be
+revealed to us. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the
+doctrine." It was Plotinus who said, The mind that wishes to behold
+God must itself become God. As we thus make it possible for these
+higher laws and truths to be revealed to us, we will in turn become
+enlightened ones, channels through which they may be revealed to others.
+
+When one is fully alive to the possibilities that come with this higher
+awakening, as he goes here and there, as he mingles with his
+fellow-men, he imparts to all an inspiration that kindles in them a
+feeling of power kindred to his own. We are all continually giving out
+influences similar to those that are playing in our own lives. We do
+this in the same way that each flower emits its own peculiar odor. The
+rose breathes out its fragrance upon the air and all who come near it
+are refreshed and inspired by this emanation from the soul of the rose.
+A poisonous weed sends out its obnoxious odor; it is neither refreshing
+nor inspiring in its effects, and if one remain near it long he may be
+so unpleasantly affected as to be made even ill by it.
+
+The higher the life the more inspiring and helpful are the emanations
+that it is continually sending out. The lower the life the more
+harmful is the influence it continually sends out to all who come in
+contact with it. Each one is continually radiating an atmosphere of
+one kind or the other.
+
+We are told by the mariners who sail on the Indian Seas, that many
+times they are able to tell their approach to certain islands long
+before they can see them by the sweet fragrance of the sandalwood that
+is wafted far out upon the deep. Do you not see how it would serve to
+have such a soul playing through such a body that as you go here and
+there a subtle, silent force goes out from you that all feel and are
+influenced by; so that you carry with you an inspiration and
+continually shed a benediction wherever you go; so that your friends
+and all people will say,--His coming brings peace and joy into our
+homes, welcome his coming; so that as you pass along the street, tired,
+and weary, and even sin-sick men and women will feel a certain divine
+touch that will awaken new desires and a new life in them; that will
+make the very horse as you pass him turn his head with a strange,
+half-human, longing look? Such are the subtle powers of the human soul
+when it makes itself translucent to the Divine. To know that such a
+life is within our living here and now is enough to make one burst
+forth with songs of joy. And when the life itself is entered upon, the
+sentiment of at least one song will be:
+
+ "Oh! I stand in the Great Forever,
+ All things to me are divine;
+ I eat of the heavenly manna,
+ I drink of the heavenly wine.
+
+ "In the gleam of the shining rainbow
+ The Father's Love I behold,
+ As I gaze on its radiant blending
+ Of crimson and blue and gold.
+
+ "In all the bright birds that are singing,
+ In all the fair flowers that bloom,
+ Whose welcome aromas are bringing
+ Their blessings of sweet perfume;
+
+ "In the glorious tint of the morning,
+ In the gorgeous sheen of the night,
+ Oh! my soul is lost in rapture,
+ My senses are lost in sight."
+
+
+As one comes into and lives continually in the full, conscious
+realization of his oneness with the Infinite Life and Power, then all
+else follows. This it is that brings the realization of such
+splendors, and beauties, and joys as a life that is thus related with
+the Infinite Power alone can know. This it is to come into the
+realization of heaven's richest treasures while walking the earth.
+This it is to bring heaven down to earth, or rather to bring earth up
+to heaven. This it is to exchange weakness and impotence for strength;
+sorrows and sighings for joy; fears and forebodings for faith; longings
+for realizations. This it is to come into fullness of peace, power,
+and plenty. This it is to be in tune with the Infinite.
+
+
+
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