The Comforter
IN THE last three chapters we have studied the various aspects of our Lord Jesus Christ that relate intimately to us, and we have found Him to be so vitally a part of ourselves that our nature and our consciousness would not be what they are without Him.
We have learned how He is both our Divine Teacher and the Way-Shower sent us by the Father, and that He is always available and will unfailingly come to us when we have need of Him. As a proof of this hear these His words:
"Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. . . . I go to prepare a place for you.
"And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."—John 14:1-3.
"I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.
"Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
"At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."—John 14:18-21.
If you will remember, these words were spoken to His disciples on that last night before His betrayal, and show that He knew what was before Him; His earthly work was finished—the part He had to do, and there remained now only the final act of the fulfillment of the prophecies—the yielding up of His life that the world could be saved.
He had given to the world the teaching. He had shown humanity the way all must live if they would come unto the Father and have eternal life. He had taught His disciples many deep truths, and they recognized His divinity and loved Him as their Teacher and Elder Brother, and believed Him to be the Christ, the Messiah sent of God.
But Jesus knew that because of their great love for Him—the man—they were as yet unable to grasp in its fullness the spirit of what He had been teaching. So in that last talk with them, after washing their feet, following His statements above quoted, He voiced these memorable words:
"These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you."--John 14:25-26.
"These things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
"But now I go my way to him that sent me; . . . but because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."—John 16:4-7.
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you unto all truth."—John 16:12—13.
Who is the Comforter? Has he come to you, dear friend?
You who are a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, and who love Him even as His disciples loved Him when He lived among them, do you realize that it is expedient that He, the man Jesus, go away that the Comforter may come to you.
What do we mean? Is this not inconsistent with what we have previously written?
No, it only emphasizes what He, our blessed Master and Teacher, Himself, would have you realize. He, the Man and Teacher, has taught you all these
wonderful truths and has shown you the way unto the Father, but now He must go away and you must apply these truths, must follow in the way He pointed and where He has gone; you must turn within and seek Him in the Kingdom, where He now is and where He has prepared a place for you.
And as surely as you truly love Him and prove it, as He said—by keeping His commandments, He will not leave you comfortless. He will send the Comforter, and on that day you will know that He is in the Father, You in Him, and He in you--that you are all ONE.
From all this you will see how imperative it is that you seek first the Kingdom, seek and find the Comforter within you; that you turn from the Teacher without, even from your worship of Jesus the Teacher, and seek to obey fully His teachings, so that the Comforter can come and guide you unto all Truth.
Do you grasp what we mean?
Try to realize that Jesus was not really a man, but that He was and is the Spirit of God taken form and living in a human body. He was and is the Christ, the Logos, the actual LOVE of God, our Father, made manifest.
In that last talk with His disciples He tried hard to have them understand this, and it was what He meant when He said that they could not "bear" what He had to tell them then, and that He, the man, must go, so that He as Love, the Comforter, could come and guide them to all truth; and that through Love He could again manifest to them.
And it was Love, the Spirit of God, that the Father would send in His Name, or as representing Him, to teach them all things, the things He could not teach them while He was with them, because they would not understand so long as they worshipped and looked only to Him, Jesus the Man. But in that day, when Love, the Comforter, came and was established and living in their hearts, then they would know the real Christ, the Christ which was the real Jesus; and they would then know that they too were in the Father, and that the Father was in them.
From this you may now understand what Jesus meant when He said, "If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye may be also." And, "At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you." Also read the 19th and 21st verses of John 14.
Thus you see how Christ Jesus becomes the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, who will teach us all things and guide us unto all truth.
In the light received from these remarkable words, we earnestly urge that everyone study most carefully the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of St. John, trying to grasp all of the wondrous meaning therein. A glorious reward awaits all who persist until they get what the Master intends for them.
From what has been stated it should be clear that in these chapters Jesus sought to impress upon His disciples what was the crux—the vital essence of His Message and Mission upon Earth, so that they might carry it unto all the World and thus finally bring about the redemption of humanity.
The Christ, the Holy Spirit of the Father, is within every Man, is the Real Self of every man, even as it was the Real Self of Jesus. That was the essence of His Message, and must be the essence of the teaching of every one of His disciples, in order that all men may seek and find the Christ as the Comforter within themselves. And when they have found Him there, they become His true followers, and ever afterwards seek to have all of their brothers also find Him there.
Think you that Jesus has changed? He wants not your worship now, no more than He wanted it then. His work is as much now as it was then—if not more so—to have all men find the Christ within, that all may become a part of the One Consciousness where Divine Love rules; for only by seeking and finding that can humanity be redeemed and be led back into the Father's Kingdom, which Jesus tried so hard to explain and to have all understand is the great goal of humanity.
Now we would apply this truth in some very important ways.
First, to those who perhaps feel because they have never been blessed with a vision of the Master that they are not worthy enough or are not as Spiritual as others so privileged. Just know that if you are conscious of a Great Love in your heart and your soul yearns to serve wherever you can, you are surely known to the Master and are beloved and blessed by Him and by the Father. And also know that many of the world's greatest servers have not known conscious illumination and have never seen the Master's face.
Secondly, to those who are more or less conscious on the inner planes, and who believe they are being guided and taught by intelligences there. Let all such know that if such teachers are doing everything possible to help you find the Christ within, constantly pointing out to you that Christ as your Higher Self is the Greatest Teacher and God's Spirit within you, to whom you must always turn for confirmation of what they teach as your final authority, —then they are truly disciples of the Master sent to aid you to find the Kingdom. All others, no matter who they claim to be or who you assume them to be; no matter how much knowledge they may be teaching or how marvelous seem the things they say and do for you,—are leading you on to disappointment, disillusionment and discouragement; for they are not the Divine Ones your mind believes them to be. (Reread in this connection the chapter on Masters in "The Impersonal Life.") Think long and carefully on this, and seek positive confirmation of it from the Comforter within your heart.
Thirdly, to those who are receiving teachings from some earthly teacher, society, order, or religion, and whose teachings at present satisfy you and seem to be of the highest type. If they are teaching as above, ever pointing you within to Christ as the one source and authority for you; and not attracting and holding your interest by the promise of powers to be gained by purchasing and studying their teachings, subtly drawing your attention to themselves or to their leaders and to the powers and wonders accomplished by them,—then they too are beloved disciples and centers of Light and are bringing many souls to the harvest.
Those who are charging for their teachings, requiring students to pay a set price, while they may be helping many to gain the first principles of the truth, yet you may know they have no real Spiritual knowledge to impart; for Spiritual teachings are not given through such channels. Those who are drawn to such teachers and who pay the prices asked, however, get value received; for in time they learn what such teachers do not and cannot teach, and if they are real seekers they will later be brought to the consciousness where they can receive the true teachings of the Spirit.
Always remember then that within you is your Higher Self, the Comforter, the Christ of God, Who knows all things, and Who, when you turn in loving faith and trust to Him, will guide you unto all Truth; that your Higher Self, as a Son of God, is superior to any Master, Guide or Teacher, for they likewise are guided and taught by their Higher Selves, Who are one with yours in Christ. Therefore there is sure guidance and the highest authority for you always within you, no matter how far you climb the Spiritual heights. And also remember that what any teacher, regardless of his name, wisdom or authority, teaches you, must always be confirmed by your Higher Self, before you can accept it and make it your own.
Think very earnestly on all of the above and see if any of it affects seriously any of your previous beliefs. If so, seek within for guidance—not from any outside teacher, and from outside we mean from any entity other than your Higher Self; for the time is here when you must decide whom you will serve—the Master within, or the one without.
OCCULT TEACHINGS
Many are being attracted these days by teachings about the hidden or occult side of life, because of being stirred by forces within themselves causing strange dreams and inner experiences and for which they naturally seek explanations.
Many, without understanding what is taking place, are unfolding psychic or spiritual faculties as a natural growth, due largely to the powerful new spiritual force now active and affecting the whole earth and all upon it, and symbolized by the sign of Aquarius, a man walking across the skies pouring water from a pitcher; for we are now passing out from under the sign of Pisces, the fishes, and entering the Aquarian Age, which means that we are at the close of one Dispensation and that a new one is beginning.
We have been trying in preceding articles to prepare the minds of those who are accompanying us by telling them of their complex natures; teaching what is the soul, its life and its home, its relation to the human mind, and the necessary control of the personality the soul must obtain, through the mind, before the soul can accomplish what it came into physical embodiment to do.
Most of the earnest ones now realize that the outer man—the personality—is nothing but an instrument which the soul, under the direction of the Higher Self, is training to that end; and therefore it is not strange that many such are becoming more or less conscious of the inner man, the soul, and are being given glimpses of the inner life, the life of the soul.
And so we strongly feel that the time is come when much of the mystery that previously sur- rounded this inner life, due principally to ignorance of the definite part this life plays in man's spiritual growth, be entirely cleared away. And so we are making this a phase of our work.
The so-called "occultist" in the past has had much to do with creating so much mystery about this inner life. Occult means "covered from sight, concealed, hidden," and an occultist in its true sense would be one who studies and acquaints himself in practical and useful ways with the hidden or invisible side of life. So that everyone who is studying these teachings then is really an occultist.
But so much stigma has attached to the word "occult," because of its being applied to teachings and practices of a questionable character, which are not serving and enlightening mankind, but are instead making the information gained serve selfish ends by giving it out in a perverted or veiled form, that many sincere students are repelled by anything bearing the name "occult."
Another reason is that otherwise worthy students who have gained a certain amount of knowledge of the inner life and its laws and the accompanying power such knowledge gives, and who pride themselves on being "occultists," look down upon other students, those of the mystic and devotional type, and particularly those who are declared followers of Christ's teachings, deeming such as still on the emotional plane and not yet progressed to the stage the occultist has reached, where mind is supreme.
We will not enlarge upon this peculiarity of "occultists," for those who read probably have had personal experience with such. But we would caution those who are convinced by an inner knowing of Spiritual realities and who perhaps repudiate the claims of such occultists, believing them to be not of Christ, not to let pride enter and affect them in any way. For all the knowledge and power that the occultist has gained through mental study and proven logic must later be gained—if not in this lifetime, in a succeeding one—by those who have found God and Christ within themselves, so that the Master within may use such knowledge and power for the purpose for which alone they are given; while the occultist must "come back" with all his intellectual knowledge and power and devote it solely to the use of the Loving One within, if and when he awakens to His Presence and consciously waits upon Him there.
And hearken! Both these stages are of equal importance—neither is higher than the other; for both will be superseded by a stage that will succeed them—when they are both given over wholly to the Master's use.
We mean just that; for not until all knowledge, all power, all consciousness of self and separation is merged into the Consciousness of the Master, the I AM, the Christ Self, so that there are no longer two—the higher and the lower self, but only One—the Master Self, neither the occultist nor the mystic has found what his soul is seeking and what eventually he will find.
And here is another great truth that all must realize: all faculties and all powers given to man are good—when developed and used unselfishly and for the good of others. This includes all psychic gifts that have unfolded naturally in one who is earnestly trying to live the higher life. When they unfold in such it is for a good purpose, which all should strive unceasingly to learn by dedicating them to Christ and asking that He teach and guide them in their proper use.
We will again state that the inner life is just as real and just as natural a manifestation of the human consciousness as is the physical life, for in reality they are one—they are but the inner and outer phases of the one life of the soul; in fact the outer could not be if the inner soul phase did not exist.
This means that the astral phase of the inner life is just as natural as the mental or the physical phase, for just as long as the human soul has in its nature any emotions and any desires, good or bad, they must express on the astral plane, and the astral plane will be just as real a place to the soul as is the physical plane, to one whose inner senses are open to the astral—that is, to the emotional or desire world.
We tell you this that all may know that what is unfolding in them is a result of the spiritual quickening taking place in everyone, and that they may view it in a common sense way. And it is a spiritual quickening, for all is spirit, because all is God, and there is nothing that is not a part of Him and is not taking place in His Consciousness.
Never forget that, and therefore seek to learn His purpose in everything that is coming to you. He permits or sends it only for good. When you find that good you will learn its purpose, and will begin to co-operate with God and good, and that good then actually becomes yours.
We have learned how He is both our Divine Teacher and the Way-Shower sent us by the Father, and that He is always available and will unfailingly come to us when we have need of Him. As a proof of this hear these His words:
"Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. . . . I go to prepare a place for you.
"And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."—John 14:1-3.
"I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.
"Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
"At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."—John 14:18-21.
If you will remember, these words were spoken to His disciples on that last night before His betrayal, and show that He knew what was before Him; His earthly work was finished—the part He had to do, and there remained now only the final act of the fulfillment of the prophecies—the yielding up of His life that the world could be saved.
He had given to the world the teaching. He had shown humanity the way all must live if they would come unto the Father and have eternal life. He had taught His disciples many deep truths, and they recognized His divinity and loved Him as their Teacher and Elder Brother, and believed Him to be the Christ, the Messiah sent of God.
But Jesus knew that because of their great love for Him—the man—they were as yet unable to grasp in its fullness the spirit of what He had been teaching. So in that last talk with them, after washing their feet, following His statements above quoted, He voiced these memorable words:
"These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you."--John 14:25-26.
"These things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
"But now I go my way to him that sent me; . . . but because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."—John 16:4-7.
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you unto all truth."—John 16:12—13.
Who is the Comforter? Has he come to you, dear friend?
You who are a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, and who love Him even as His disciples loved Him when He lived among them, do you realize that it is expedient that He, the man Jesus, go away that the Comforter may come to you.
What do we mean? Is this not inconsistent with what we have previously written?
No, it only emphasizes what He, our blessed Master and Teacher, Himself, would have you realize. He, the Man and Teacher, has taught you all these
wonderful truths and has shown you the way unto the Father, but now He must go away and you must apply these truths, must follow in the way He pointed and where He has gone; you must turn within and seek Him in the Kingdom, where He now is and where He has prepared a place for you.
And as surely as you truly love Him and prove it, as He said—by keeping His commandments, He will not leave you comfortless. He will send the Comforter, and on that day you will know that He is in the Father, You in Him, and He in you--that you are all ONE.
From all this you will see how imperative it is that you seek first the Kingdom, seek and find the Comforter within you; that you turn from the Teacher without, even from your worship of Jesus the Teacher, and seek to obey fully His teachings, so that the Comforter can come and guide you unto all Truth.
Do you grasp what we mean?
Try to realize that Jesus was not really a man, but that He was and is the Spirit of God taken form and living in a human body. He was and is the Christ, the Logos, the actual LOVE of God, our Father, made manifest.
In that last talk with His disciples He tried hard to have them understand this, and it was what He meant when He said that they could not "bear" what He had to tell them then, and that He, the man, must go, so that He as Love, the Comforter, could come and guide them to all truth; and that through Love He could again manifest to them.
And it was Love, the Spirit of God, that the Father would send in His Name, or as representing Him, to teach them all things, the things He could not teach them while He was with them, because they would not understand so long as they worshipped and looked only to Him, Jesus the Man. But in that day, when Love, the Comforter, came and was established and living in their hearts, then they would know the real Christ, the Christ which was the real Jesus; and they would then know that they too were in the Father, and that the Father was in them.
From this you may now understand what Jesus meant when He said, "If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye may be also." And, "At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you." Also read the 19th and 21st verses of John 14.
Thus you see how Christ Jesus becomes the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, who will teach us all things and guide us unto all truth.
In the light received from these remarkable words, we earnestly urge that everyone study most carefully the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of St. John, trying to grasp all of the wondrous meaning therein. A glorious reward awaits all who persist until they get what the Master intends for them.
From what has been stated it should be clear that in these chapters Jesus sought to impress upon His disciples what was the crux—the vital essence of His Message and Mission upon Earth, so that they might carry it unto all the World and thus finally bring about the redemption of humanity.
The Christ, the Holy Spirit of the Father, is within every Man, is the Real Self of every man, even as it was the Real Self of Jesus. That was the essence of His Message, and must be the essence of the teaching of every one of His disciples, in order that all men may seek and find the Christ as the Comforter within themselves. And when they have found Him there, they become His true followers, and ever afterwards seek to have all of their brothers also find Him there.
Think you that Jesus has changed? He wants not your worship now, no more than He wanted it then. His work is as much now as it was then—if not more so—to have all men find the Christ within, that all may become a part of the One Consciousness where Divine Love rules; for only by seeking and finding that can humanity be redeemed and be led back into the Father's Kingdom, which Jesus tried so hard to explain and to have all understand is the great goal of humanity.
Now we would apply this truth in some very important ways.
First, to those who perhaps feel because they have never been blessed with a vision of the Master that they are not worthy enough or are not as Spiritual as others so privileged. Just know that if you are conscious of a Great Love in your heart and your soul yearns to serve wherever you can, you are surely known to the Master and are beloved and blessed by Him and by the Father. And also know that many of the world's greatest servers have not known conscious illumination and have never seen the Master's face.
Secondly, to those who are more or less conscious on the inner planes, and who believe they are being guided and taught by intelligences there. Let all such know that if such teachers are doing everything possible to help you find the Christ within, constantly pointing out to you that Christ as your Higher Self is the Greatest Teacher and God's Spirit within you, to whom you must always turn for confirmation of what they teach as your final authority, —then they are truly disciples of the Master sent to aid you to find the Kingdom. All others, no matter who they claim to be or who you assume them to be; no matter how much knowledge they may be teaching or how marvelous seem the things they say and do for you,—are leading you on to disappointment, disillusionment and discouragement; for they are not the Divine Ones your mind believes them to be. (Reread in this connection the chapter on Masters in "The Impersonal Life.") Think long and carefully on this, and seek positive confirmation of it from the Comforter within your heart.
Thirdly, to those who are receiving teachings from some earthly teacher, society, order, or religion, and whose teachings at present satisfy you and seem to be of the highest type. If they are teaching as above, ever pointing you within to Christ as the one source and authority for you; and not attracting and holding your interest by the promise of powers to be gained by purchasing and studying their teachings, subtly drawing your attention to themselves or to their leaders and to the powers and wonders accomplished by them,—then they too are beloved disciples and centers of Light and are bringing many souls to the harvest.
Those who are charging for their teachings, requiring students to pay a set price, while they may be helping many to gain the first principles of the truth, yet you may know they have no real Spiritual knowledge to impart; for Spiritual teachings are not given through such channels. Those who are drawn to such teachers and who pay the prices asked, however, get value received; for in time they learn what such teachers do not and cannot teach, and if they are real seekers they will later be brought to the consciousness where they can receive the true teachings of the Spirit.
Always remember then that within you is your Higher Self, the Comforter, the Christ of God, Who knows all things, and Who, when you turn in loving faith and trust to Him, will guide you unto all Truth; that your Higher Self, as a Son of God, is superior to any Master, Guide or Teacher, for they likewise are guided and taught by their Higher Selves, Who are one with yours in Christ. Therefore there is sure guidance and the highest authority for you always within you, no matter how far you climb the Spiritual heights. And also remember that what any teacher, regardless of his name, wisdom or authority, teaches you, must always be confirmed by your Higher Self, before you can accept it and make it your own.
Think very earnestly on all of the above and see if any of it affects seriously any of your previous beliefs. If so, seek within for guidance—not from any outside teacher, and from outside we mean from any entity other than your Higher Self; for the time is here when you must decide whom you will serve—the Master within, or the one without.
OCCULT TEACHINGS
Many are being attracted these days by teachings about the hidden or occult side of life, because of being stirred by forces within themselves causing strange dreams and inner experiences and for which they naturally seek explanations.
Many, without understanding what is taking place, are unfolding psychic or spiritual faculties as a natural growth, due largely to the powerful new spiritual force now active and affecting the whole earth and all upon it, and symbolized by the sign of Aquarius, a man walking across the skies pouring water from a pitcher; for we are now passing out from under the sign of Pisces, the fishes, and entering the Aquarian Age, which means that we are at the close of one Dispensation and that a new one is beginning.
We have been trying in preceding articles to prepare the minds of those who are accompanying us by telling them of their complex natures; teaching what is the soul, its life and its home, its relation to the human mind, and the necessary control of the personality the soul must obtain, through the mind, before the soul can accomplish what it came into physical embodiment to do.
Most of the earnest ones now realize that the outer man—the personality—is nothing but an instrument which the soul, under the direction of the Higher Self, is training to that end; and therefore it is not strange that many such are becoming more or less conscious of the inner man, the soul, and are being given glimpses of the inner life, the life of the soul.
And so we strongly feel that the time is come when much of the mystery that previously sur- rounded this inner life, due principally to ignorance of the definite part this life plays in man's spiritual growth, be entirely cleared away. And so we are making this a phase of our work.
The so-called "occultist" in the past has had much to do with creating so much mystery about this inner life. Occult means "covered from sight, concealed, hidden," and an occultist in its true sense would be one who studies and acquaints himself in practical and useful ways with the hidden or invisible side of life. So that everyone who is studying these teachings then is really an occultist.
But so much stigma has attached to the word "occult," because of its being applied to teachings and practices of a questionable character, which are not serving and enlightening mankind, but are instead making the information gained serve selfish ends by giving it out in a perverted or veiled form, that many sincere students are repelled by anything bearing the name "occult."
Another reason is that otherwise worthy students who have gained a certain amount of knowledge of the inner life and its laws and the accompanying power such knowledge gives, and who pride themselves on being "occultists," look down upon other students, those of the mystic and devotional type, and particularly those who are declared followers of Christ's teachings, deeming such as still on the emotional plane and not yet progressed to the stage the occultist has reached, where mind is supreme.
We will not enlarge upon this peculiarity of "occultists," for those who read probably have had personal experience with such. But we would caution those who are convinced by an inner knowing of Spiritual realities and who perhaps repudiate the claims of such occultists, believing them to be not of Christ, not to let pride enter and affect them in any way. For all the knowledge and power that the occultist has gained through mental study and proven logic must later be gained—if not in this lifetime, in a succeeding one—by those who have found God and Christ within themselves, so that the Master within may use such knowledge and power for the purpose for which alone they are given; while the occultist must "come back" with all his intellectual knowledge and power and devote it solely to the use of the Loving One within, if and when he awakens to His Presence and consciously waits upon Him there.
And hearken! Both these stages are of equal importance—neither is higher than the other; for both will be superseded by a stage that will succeed them—when they are both given over wholly to the Master's use.
We mean just that; for not until all knowledge, all power, all consciousness of self and separation is merged into the Consciousness of the Master, the I AM, the Christ Self, so that there are no longer two—the higher and the lower self, but only One—the Master Self, neither the occultist nor the mystic has found what his soul is seeking and what eventually he will find.
And here is another great truth that all must realize: all faculties and all powers given to man are good—when developed and used unselfishly and for the good of others. This includes all psychic gifts that have unfolded naturally in one who is earnestly trying to live the higher life. When they unfold in such it is for a good purpose, which all should strive unceasingly to learn by dedicating them to Christ and asking that He teach and guide them in their proper use.
We will again state that the inner life is just as real and just as natural a manifestation of the human consciousness as is the physical life, for in reality they are one—they are but the inner and outer phases of the one life of the soul; in fact the outer could not be if the inner soul phase did not exist.
This means that the astral phase of the inner life is just as natural as the mental or the physical phase, for just as long as the human soul has in its nature any emotions and any desires, good or bad, they must express on the astral plane, and the astral plane will be just as real a place to the soul as is the physical plane, to one whose inner senses are open to the astral—that is, to the emotional or desire world.
We tell you this that all may know that what is unfolding in them is a result of the spiritual quickening taking place in everyone, and that they may view it in a common sense way. And it is a spiritual quickening, for all is spirit, because all is God, and there is nothing that is not a part of Him and is not taking place in His Consciousness.
Never forget that, and therefore seek to learn His purpose in everything that is coming to you. He permits or sends it only for good. When you find that good you will learn its purpose, and will begin to co-operate with God and good, and that good then actually becomes yours.