The Light Which Lighteth Every Man
IT IS fitting at the Christmas season, when all Christians are celebrating the birth of the Christ, that those traveling the journey to the
Kingdom should strive to realize fully what that birth has meant and now means to each one who experienced it.
Therefore try to recall that experience in your life—when you first felt the quickening of the Christ-child (Love) in the womb of your heart, when it began to stir actively there, not only making you very conscious of its presence, but compelling you to cherish, serve, and worship it; until finally, when undergoing some deep, soul-stirring experience, the day of delivery came, and there was born from within a new consciousness—a yearning to love and bless and to help everyone to come into that new world of understanding you had entered, and which now is the all-compelling spirit of your life.
You will remember that this experience came when you were shepherding your thoughts during the night period, when all seemed most dark and you were sustained only by the faith born of your long seeking. It was then that a glow of wonderful light flooded your night of waiting, and a song as of angels filled your consciousness. In deepest humility you sought to know the meaning of it all, and you soon found there was cradled in your heart a tender, beautiful, all-compelling love, that from then on filled and possessed you, and gradually grew in power until it influenced and inspired much of your thinking, speech, and actions.
Surely at the Christmas season we should remember the birth of the Christ-child, especially now that we know that It is the actual love of our Father- God—His Holy Spirit, growing, thriving, working in our hearts, seeking to merge our whole nature— body, mind and soul—with His Nature, that He may without hindrance live His life in us, do His will in us, and be His Christ-self in us.
Ah, dear ones, let us not only remember, but let us open our hearts wide that He, the Blessed One, may come forth and possess us and do with us as He wills. May we dedicate ourselves wholly to Him, letting His Love be our life, and our bodies and brain minds His perfect means of expression.
It is true that some who read may deem the above but words, it having no real meaning for them, the Christ-child not yet having been quickened in their hearts. To such we would say with Jesus, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Like Nicodemus, they may be masters of Israel and have great occult knowledge of the law and of the inner worlds, but unless they are born of the water of Divine Inspiration and of the spirit of Christ-Love, they can never find and enter the Kingdom.
In the preceding chapter, Aspirants were reminded of that point reached on the Path where they had more or less consciously renounced the old life and were quickened into a new consciousness; the Christ-child had been born in their hearts; the Prodigal had started on his return journey to his Father's house; the dedication of the Aspirant to the higher life had been registered and he had become a Disciple on Probation.
It was at this point that you actually started out to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Whether you were aware of it or not in your brain consciousness, your soul had unfolded to the stage where it saw its Father's house afar off; and now it no longer can find rest until it reaches home and can abide there forever.
Along with the birth of the love-nature there awakens the desire to serve selflessly, and from then on according to the extent that Love is permitted to grow and lead, will the Disciple gradually become aware of a voice within which speaks when- ever it gets the attention of the conscious mind. It will be no audible voice, and there may be no actually heard words, but nevertheless something speaks within and the Disciple will hear and understand. He will also note that when he heeds and obeys a blessing in some form follows, but when he fails to obey the hints or "leadings" given, failure, trouble and often suffering result. Thus the Disciple gradually learns of his higher and inner nature, and that it is unmistakably related to Love; more and more he finds himself turning within and seeking to know more of this inner self and he strives to let it guide and direct him in all things.
As he thus definitely gives his allegiance to Love and to his better self, he is made aware of qualities in his lower nature rising unexpectedly to prominence and displaying elements of selfishness and baseness that surprise and startle him. For the lower self that had held a dominating part so long in his life is not yielding without a battle—in fact it is fighting for its very existence.
It is then you begin to realize that the Path upon which you have entered is not an easy one. The fact is, in the conquering of the lower self, you are assuming a task that will test you to the limit of your strength and endurance. But you will gradu- ally discover that from the same source that comes the Voice will also come the strength needed to conquer and to sustain you along the way. Also you will learn that loving and selfless service releases the strength and gives the wisdom to meet every test, for while serving you are enlisted in the Cause of Brotherhood and in such work the Great Brotherhood of the Spirit always supplies all the wisdom and the strength needed to accomplish it.* [* Read in connection with the foregoing the first two chapters of "Brotherhood."]
For you who are truly seeking the Kingdom, the time has come to hear certain truths, to see if your Higher Self deems you ready to receive and accept these truths and to make them a part of your soul consciousness. If so they will bring to you an illumination of understanding that will quicken your soul, free your mind from what has been holding you back perhaps for many lifetimes, and will con- sequently now permit you speedily to proceed on your journey.
But if you are not yet ready to accept these truths it is well, for your Higher Self has certain necessary experiences in store for you, from which He will be enabled later to teach you to accept them and to want to follow us on our way to the Kingdom.
Consider first the real meaning of these words spoken to His Disciples by the Christ of Jesus-- "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."
Can the Divinity within any man be reached by any but the Christ Way? These words of our Master tell us definitely, No.
Many of you who read may have come along the route of Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Spiritualism, and other occult movements, and according to your study and understanding of what they teach you have an intellectual grasp of much knowledge of the constitution of man and of the Universe, of the laws of matter, and of the hidden side of life, which should be a great aid to you in governing your life and actions—up to a certain point. These, movements help man very considerably to know himself and thereby enable him to gain mastery over qualities and elements in his nature whose influence before was not understood. Such knowledge should dispose him to deal more kindly and justly with his fellows who are of like nature. But does that al- ways result in those who have all the knowledge that these movements teach?
Those who gave this knowledge to the world through these different movements are said to be Masters of Wisdom, Adepts, Initiates, or at least very learned Teachers. Unquestionably some of them are of vast knowledge and powers, those who
have far outstripped ordinary humanity—Supermen—our elder brothers, judging from what they taught and what they know. It is their due that we honor, revere and be grateful to them for all they have taught us, and we certainly should strive to use the knowledge gained wisely and for the good of all.
But who was the real teacher who pointed out in the teachings that which you were to accept and which to pass by? Who helped you to apply the truths in the teaching to the experiences of life through which you were led? And who guided and chided and cautioned, and always held before your mind's eye the ideal toward which your face has ever been turned? Was there not One within you who did all this, and Who has a purpose for you and a part for you to play—when you are through seeking without for what the world and its teachers have to offer and you are ready to turn within and get fully acquainted with Him, and are willing to wait upon Him and to sit at His feet and to be consciously taught by Him?
We say to you who have been "born again," you within whom the Christ has been born—you Disciples on Probation, that One is your Master—even the Christ-Self of you, Who has more knowledge and power than any initiate, adept or master who has not received the anointing of the Holy Spirit—who has not yet been Christed. For such are but "masters of Israel," like Nicodemus. They are great souls, even as John the Baptist was great, of whom Jesus said:
"This is he of whom it was written, behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
"For I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; but he that is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he."—Matthew 11:10-11.
Just as John the Baptist lost his head, so may even one of great knowledge lose his head (men- tally) unless he has wedded wisdom with Love.
Such Masters who inaugurate new movements for the enlightenment of men in our modern days are as the Prophets of Old Testament times. They may be considered as the lower part of the pyramid. They represent the great body of human knowledge, or the Law, and "The Law is the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." Jesus Christ is the capstone of the pyramid. But it often happens that He is "the stone that the Builders rejected, the same that is become the head of the corner." The capstone itself being a perfect pyramid, Christ thus is the Apex, the Zenith, the Essence of all that lies beneath.
It shall be even as Jesus said: "He that falleth on this stone (stumbles against this truth—fails to see Christ, not merely as the Master and Teacher, but as the God-Self of every man) shall be broken to pieces; but on whomsoever it shall fall (or who shall fail to accept or admit this truth) it will scatter as dust." For Christ is the actual life of humanity —The Light that lighteth every man, consequently they who repudiate Him, and consider and teach that He is only a Master among other Masters, remain in darkness and wander far from their Father's house.
Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and other similar movements brought to the modern world the vision of Brotherhood. And for what purpose? It is claimed, to awaken men to their real mission on earth and to prepare them for HIM WHO IS TO COME,—for the Christ who promised to come and redeem His own.
But can you not see that not until He has been born in our hearts, has grown and thrived, and become matured in our lives, can He appear to our consciousness and can make Himself known as He Is—"The Light which shineth in the darkness" of our human minds, and which He will illumine so we may know that our minds are really His Mind, are God's Mind shining within us.
Ah, dear comrades on this journey through life, all the vast past—all the many eons through which humanity has struggled—has been an evolving, a growing, a preparing and fitting of us for this very day and age we have now reached. The Christian Era was the final stage of our training. God, our Father, Who is responsible for all, Himself sent His Holy Spirit, the Christ, down to earth, taking on a human form, purposely to prepare us by direct teaching and example what was necessary for us to find our way back to His Home and to enter again into His Eternal Kingdom. Therefore Christ--Christ within us is our highest Teacher, and the sole Authority for every man—for He is "the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
There is much said in the different occult teachings of two paths to God—the path of the occultist, and the path of the mystic, or the way of the head and the way of the heart. Yet all great teachers say that the way to Divinity is the way of Love; and surely the way of Love is the way of the heart. But the Love that leads to God is not the intellectual concept of love that occultists speak of, but is God's Love in the heart—the Christ Consciousness there—which cannot be simulated, and which all those in whom Christ has been born and lives know and show forth, and they can never be deceived by a substitute.
Gautama brought the teaching of Divine Wisdom and Compassion to develop and prepare the mind of humanity to comprehend God's Love. And even as Gautama came first and brought Wisdom, so Jesus followed and brought us Divine Love to join with Wisdom and give us Understanding, thus completing the Divine Union in Christ of the twain that in the beginning were originally one.
We might say Gautama was the manifested Mind of God and Jesus the manifested Heart of God, God having evolved the mind of humanity to the point where it was now ready to know Him in the fullness of His Nature; so He showed Himself to us in the person of Jesus—His Beloved Son—the Fruit of His Divine Love—the First-fruit of them that slept.
If you are able to receive it, you will soon have done with all intellectual teachings, and you will be interested only in those brought to you by the Loving One within, that He may point out to you the laws and truths He wishes you to know, thus recalling to you the knowledge gained in the long, long past. For if you can realize it, it was through many past, long forgotten lives, extending over vast eons of time, that He brought you to your present state of unfoldment; and therefore in your soul there is much knowledge at present hidden from your brain mind that soon He will uncover to you.
But before that can be, a far more important matter confronts you—the finding and knowing of Him, your True Self—the Christ within you, so that He can reveal to you these and all things, when you need to know them. Throughout this eon He has spoken from the heart of every awakened soul--"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all things else will be added unto you."
Christ has been the Great Mystery of all ages. Once you comprehend Him you can know All, for all mysteries lead to Him, and He is the solution of all. All the Prophets of old foretold His Coming. The story of Moses and the children of Israel; the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,—all are parables telling of Him—the Lord Christ, to prepare us for His Coming. Likewise the ancient religions of India, Egypt, Chaldea, and Atlantis ever held forth to the humanity of their days the sacred Mystery of the One we know as Christ. Verily He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End of all things.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
"All things were made by Him (the Word); and without Him was not anything made that was made.
"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not."
Read and meditate on the above and with it the remainder of the first chapter of John, especially up to the 19th verse.
MEDITATION
With many meditation seems to be quite a problem. Some deem it a task and approach it with hesitancy and some reluctance, because of strain in previous attempts, or of not getting any apparent results.
Others think they cannot find the time for regular meditation. It is not so difficult to find the time; meditation can be made part of a well ordered life as easily as can any other factor. System, that manifestation of the harmony and rhythm of the universe in the affairs of men, will provide the time and the way, if given the opportunity by your earnestly desiring it.
True meditation is the simplest and most natural thing in the world, because it is but a retiring into the quiet of the soul, a letting go in the mind of all outer things and relapsing into a peace and a rest in which the Spirit can come forth and speak to the mind. If you only know it, many times a day do you meditate—when your mind dwells upon things in which the personal self is interested. When that part of you is really concerned about a thing, your mind automatically obeys and dwells upon and ponders over that thing until its interest is appeased (worrying, being anxious, grieving, and such are all negative, unconscious meditation).
Thus you can see that meditation is natural and in no way difficult. It only appears difficult because the human mind, which has been accustomed to having its own way and to thinking of only the personal things in which it is interested, rebels against restraint, particularly when required to think of impersonal and abstract things that you are interested in and wish light upon (purposeful thinking is positive and conscious meditation). We will try to indicate more clearly what we mean.
In "The Impersonal Life" you are shown that it is really God who is living in your body and is your Real Self, and that you are of no importance whatsoever, either to yourself or to the world at large, until you recognize this great truth in a more or less conscious and intelligent way. This of course is not easy to grasp by a mind that considers you and itself separate and apart from God.
Now consider that the life that grew you and is living you is the same life that is growing the grass, the flowers, the trees, the animals and all humanity, and is so wise and powerful a life that despite every obstacle it develops all to the maturity of that which it is their destiny to be. Did you or anyone of these others have any conscious part in the direction of or actual process of such growing? You know that you did not, and you know that this life and intelligence and will doing it all is God—Who is All in all.
Now try to realize that this life that is growing you, this mind that is intelligently directing all, and this will whose power is accomplishing all, is actually God and cannot be you or anyone else. Try to perceive the great truth of this by imagining how it must be.
To do this you must lift your mind away from this page and meditate upon what has been stated, and if you are greatly interested, you will find your attention fixed upon this life within you, imagining it as God living in your body, a very wise and loving Consciousness filling and possessing it, moving it and causing it to do what He wants it to do. And it will gradually dawn upon you that the part of you that is considering all this is only your mind, and then in a wondrously illuminating way it may flash into your consciousness that therefore you are not at all what you before thought was the you living in your body, but that it is a much bigger and more wonderful you—that it is God! that God is the Real You!! and that the other you is but a part of His Mind—a center of His Consciousness that before had thought itself separate from Him.
If you have truly followed this and actually caused your mind to consider and do everything suggested, some illumination must have resulted, for the God of you would surely respond to a heart earnestly desiring to know Him.
The above would be real meditation, and real inner work, as you will by this time have realized.
All meditation is nothing more nor less than a pondering over or reflecting upon any subject to which you direct your mind's attention. The reason we urge the use of meditation is two-fold: that you can cultivate the power and ability to require your mind to consider thoroughly any subject you wish it to understand fully, realizing that as you hold the subject firmly before your mind's eye, light will pour in, enabling you to see it from many angles. Also that your mind may gradually learn who you are—learn of your inner self—and that it, the mind, is your child, your instrument that you are teaching, training and disciplining so that it will serve you selflessly and efficiently.
Until you have disciplined your mind, you cannot control your thoughts, and as by being able to control your thoughts you can control your emotions, you can then bring your body into harmony; for its health is largely controlled by the emotions or feelings harbored in the heart.
When you become more or less master of your mind and dedicate it to the service of the Christ— your God-Self, your real work begins; for all such earnest ones are accepted and put to that work for which they have been fitted and prepared.
But not until the mind is thoroughly under control can real work be given. Real work awaits, but it will be mental work—in the Silence and at night, when the brain minds of those who seek and need help are still, so their souls can hear and accept. Such Real Work will be given when you are ready.
GROUPS
Wherever it is possible we urge that groups be formed for study and service, for our Master has promised "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them."
Aspirants who put service first, and in whom the personality has been submerged, always accomplish more and unfold more rapidly while working and studying in a group, for there they quickly become aware of the one Power and Presence and individually feel the results in their daily meditation and work.
It is suggested that all who feel so led watch for others of their acquaintance who they think may be ready for these teachings—those who are not seeking for self, but who are longing to serve the Master within in some definite way. The first lesson, "Seek Ye First the Kingdom," will be sent to any of such, if their names are forwarded to the publisher.
In groups real ways of service will open up to all in due season—when the unfoldment awaiting is able to manifest. This does not imply that only in groups can one unfold in consciousness so that the Master can accomplish His Will through you, but only that in them He can make known His Presence more easily as He indicates above.
Many are so situated that meeting with others regularly is difficult and often impossible. Such will be shown that their present opportunity for service is in the very condition where they are now placed, but all such should be just that much more faithful in their regular communion with Him through meditation.
Go to the next Chapter ~ I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life
Kingdom should strive to realize fully what that birth has meant and now means to each one who experienced it.
Therefore try to recall that experience in your life—when you first felt the quickening of the Christ-child (Love) in the womb of your heart, when it began to stir actively there, not only making you very conscious of its presence, but compelling you to cherish, serve, and worship it; until finally, when undergoing some deep, soul-stirring experience, the day of delivery came, and there was born from within a new consciousness—a yearning to love and bless and to help everyone to come into that new world of understanding you had entered, and which now is the all-compelling spirit of your life.
You will remember that this experience came when you were shepherding your thoughts during the night period, when all seemed most dark and you were sustained only by the faith born of your long seeking. It was then that a glow of wonderful light flooded your night of waiting, and a song as of angels filled your consciousness. In deepest humility you sought to know the meaning of it all, and you soon found there was cradled in your heart a tender, beautiful, all-compelling love, that from then on filled and possessed you, and gradually grew in power until it influenced and inspired much of your thinking, speech, and actions.
Surely at the Christmas season we should remember the birth of the Christ-child, especially now that we know that It is the actual love of our Father- God—His Holy Spirit, growing, thriving, working in our hearts, seeking to merge our whole nature— body, mind and soul—with His Nature, that He may without hindrance live His life in us, do His will in us, and be His Christ-self in us.
Ah, dear ones, let us not only remember, but let us open our hearts wide that He, the Blessed One, may come forth and possess us and do with us as He wills. May we dedicate ourselves wholly to Him, letting His Love be our life, and our bodies and brain minds His perfect means of expression.
It is true that some who read may deem the above but words, it having no real meaning for them, the Christ-child not yet having been quickened in their hearts. To such we would say with Jesus, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Like Nicodemus, they may be masters of Israel and have great occult knowledge of the law and of the inner worlds, but unless they are born of the water of Divine Inspiration and of the spirit of Christ-Love, they can never find and enter the Kingdom.
In the preceding chapter, Aspirants were reminded of that point reached on the Path where they had more or less consciously renounced the old life and were quickened into a new consciousness; the Christ-child had been born in their hearts; the Prodigal had started on his return journey to his Father's house; the dedication of the Aspirant to the higher life had been registered and he had become a Disciple on Probation.
It was at this point that you actually started out to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Whether you were aware of it or not in your brain consciousness, your soul had unfolded to the stage where it saw its Father's house afar off; and now it no longer can find rest until it reaches home and can abide there forever.
Along with the birth of the love-nature there awakens the desire to serve selflessly, and from then on according to the extent that Love is permitted to grow and lead, will the Disciple gradually become aware of a voice within which speaks when- ever it gets the attention of the conscious mind. It will be no audible voice, and there may be no actually heard words, but nevertheless something speaks within and the Disciple will hear and understand. He will also note that when he heeds and obeys a blessing in some form follows, but when he fails to obey the hints or "leadings" given, failure, trouble and often suffering result. Thus the Disciple gradually learns of his higher and inner nature, and that it is unmistakably related to Love; more and more he finds himself turning within and seeking to know more of this inner self and he strives to let it guide and direct him in all things.
As he thus definitely gives his allegiance to Love and to his better self, he is made aware of qualities in his lower nature rising unexpectedly to prominence and displaying elements of selfishness and baseness that surprise and startle him. For the lower self that had held a dominating part so long in his life is not yielding without a battle—in fact it is fighting for its very existence.
It is then you begin to realize that the Path upon which you have entered is not an easy one. The fact is, in the conquering of the lower self, you are assuming a task that will test you to the limit of your strength and endurance. But you will gradu- ally discover that from the same source that comes the Voice will also come the strength needed to conquer and to sustain you along the way. Also you will learn that loving and selfless service releases the strength and gives the wisdom to meet every test, for while serving you are enlisted in the Cause of Brotherhood and in such work the Great Brotherhood of the Spirit always supplies all the wisdom and the strength needed to accomplish it.* [* Read in connection with the foregoing the first two chapters of "Brotherhood."]
For you who are truly seeking the Kingdom, the time has come to hear certain truths, to see if your Higher Self deems you ready to receive and accept these truths and to make them a part of your soul consciousness. If so they will bring to you an illumination of understanding that will quicken your soul, free your mind from what has been holding you back perhaps for many lifetimes, and will con- sequently now permit you speedily to proceed on your journey.
But if you are not yet ready to accept these truths it is well, for your Higher Self has certain necessary experiences in store for you, from which He will be enabled later to teach you to accept them and to want to follow us on our way to the Kingdom.
Consider first the real meaning of these words spoken to His Disciples by the Christ of Jesus-- "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."
Can the Divinity within any man be reached by any but the Christ Way? These words of our Master tell us definitely, No.
Many of you who read may have come along the route of Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Spiritualism, and other occult movements, and according to your study and understanding of what they teach you have an intellectual grasp of much knowledge of the constitution of man and of the Universe, of the laws of matter, and of the hidden side of life, which should be a great aid to you in governing your life and actions—up to a certain point. These, movements help man very considerably to know himself and thereby enable him to gain mastery over qualities and elements in his nature whose influence before was not understood. Such knowledge should dispose him to deal more kindly and justly with his fellows who are of like nature. But does that al- ways result in those who have all the knowledge that these movements teach?
Those who gave this knowledge to the world through these different movements are said to be Masters of Wisdom, Adepts, Initiates, or at least very learned Teachers. Unquestionably some of them are of vast knowledge and powers, those who
have far outstripped ordinary humanity—Supermen—our elder brothers, judging from what they taught and what they know. It is their due that we honor, revere and be grateful to them for all they have taught us, and we certainly should strive to use the knowledge gained wisely and for the good of all.
But who was the real teacher who pointed out in the teachings that which you were to accept and which to pass by? Who helped you to apply the truths in the teaching to the experiences of life through which you were led? And who guided and chided and cautioned, and always held before your mind's eye the ideal toward which your face has ever been turned? Was there not One within you who did all this, and Who has a purpose for you and a part for you to play—when you are through seeking without for what the world and its teachers have to offer and you are ready to turn within and get fully acquainted with Him, and are willing to wait upon Him and to sit at His feet and to be consciously taught by Him?
We say to you who have been "born again," you within whom the Christ has been born—you Disciples on Probation, that One is your Master—even the Christ-Self of you, Who has more knowledge and power than any initiate, adept or master who has not received the anointing of the Holy Spirit—who has not yet been Christed. For such are but "masters of Israel," like Nicodemus. They are great souls, even as John the Baptist was great, of whom Jesus said:
"This is he of whom it was written, behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
"For I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; but he that is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he."—Matthew 11:10-11.
Just as John the Baptist lost his head, so may even one of great knowledge lose his head (men- tally) unless he has wedded wisdom with Love.
Such Masters who inaugurate new movements for the enlightenment of men in our modern days are as the Prophets of Old Testament times. They may be considered as the lower part of the pyramid. They represent the great body of human knowledge, or the Law, and "The Law is the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." Jesus Christ is the capstone of the pyramid. But it often happens that He is "the stone that the Builders rejected, the same that is become the head of the corner." The capstone itself being a perfect pyramid, Christ thus is the Apex, the Zenith, the Essence of all that lies beneath.
It shall be even as Jesus said: "He that falleth on this stone (stumbles against this truth—fails to see Christ, not merely as the Master and Teacher, but as the God-Self of every man) shall be broken to pieces; but on whomsoever it shall fall (or who shall fail to accept or admit this truth) it will scatter as dust." For Christ is the actual life of humanity —The Light that lighteth every man, consequently they who repudiate Him, and consider and teach that He is only a Master among other Masters, remain in darkness and wander far from their Father's house.
Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and other similar movements brought to the modern world the vision of Brotherhood. And for what purpose? It is claimed, to awaken men to their real mission on earth and to prepare them for HIM WHO IS TO COME,—for the Christ who promised to come and redeem His own.
But can you not see that not until He has been born in our hearts, has grown and thrived, and become matured in our lives, can He appear to our consciousness and can make Himself known as He Is—"The Light which shineth in the darkness" of our human minds, and which He will illumine so we may know that our minds are really His Mind, are God's Mind shining within us.
Ah, dear comrades on this journey through life, all the vast past—all the many eons through which humanity has struggled—has been an evolving, a growing, a preparing and fitting of us for this very day and age we have now reached. The Christian Era was the final stage of our training. God, our Father, Who is responsible for all, Himself sent His Holy Spirit, the Christ, down to earth, taking on a human form, purposely to prepare us by direct teaching and example what was necessary for us to find our way back to His Home and to enter again into His Eternal Kingdom. Therefore Christ--Christ within us is our highest Teacher, and the sole Authority for every man—for He is "the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
There is much said in the different occult teachings of two paths to God—the path of the occultist, and the path of the mystic, or the way of the head and the way of the heart. Yet all great teachers say that the way to Divinity is the way of Love; and surely the way of Love is the way of the heart. But the Love that leads to God is not the intellectual concept of love that occultists speak of, but is God's Love in the heart—the Christ Consciousness there—which cannot be simulated, and which all those in whom Christ has been born and lives know and show forth, and they can never be deceived by a substitute.
Gautama brought the teaching of Divine Wisdom and Compassion to develop and prepare the mind of humanity to comprehend God's Love. And even as Gautama came first and brought Wisdom, so Jesus followed and brought us Divine Love to join with Wisdom and give us Understanding, thus completing the Divine Union in Christ of the twain that in the beginning were originally one.
We might say Gautama was the manifested Mind of God and Jesus the manifested Heart of God, God having evolved the mind of humanity to the point where it was now ready to know Him in the fullness of His Nature; so He showed Himself to us in the person of Jesus—His Beloved Son—the Fruit of His Divine Love—the First-fruit of them that slept.
If you are able to receive it, you will soon have done with all intellectual teachings, and you will be interested only in those brought to you by the Loving One within, that He may point out to you the laws and truths He wishes you to know, thus recalling to you the knowledge gained in the long, long past. For if you can realize it, it was through many past, long forgotten lives, extending over vast eons of time, that He brought you to your present state of unfoldment; and therefore in your soul there is much knowledge at present hidden from your brain mind that soon He will uncover to you.
But before that can be, a far more important matter confronts you—the finding and knowing of Him, your True Self—the Christ within you, so that He can reveal to you these and all things, when you need to know them. Throughout this eon He has spoken from the heart of every awakened soul--"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all things else will be added unto you."
Christ has been the Great Mystery of all ages. Once you comprehend Him you can know All, for all mysteries lead to Him, and He is the solution of all. All the Prophets of old foretold His Coming. The story of Moses and the children of Israel; the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,—all are parables telling of Him—the Lord Christ, to prepare us for His Coming. Likewise the ancient religions of India, Egypt, Chaldea, and Atlantis ever held forth to the humanity of their days the sacred Mystery of the One we know as Christ. Verily He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End of all things.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
"All things were made by Him (the Word); and without Him was not anything made that was made.
"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not."
Read and meditate on the above and with it the remainder of the first chapter of John, especially up to the 19th verse.
MEDITATION
With many meditation seems to be quite a problem. Some deem it a task and approach it with hesitancy and some reluctance, because of strain in previous attempts, or of not getting any apparent results.
Others think they cannot find the time for regular meditation. It is not so difficult to find the time; meditation can be made part of a well ordered life as easily as can any other factor. System, that manifestation of the harmony and rhythm of the universe in the affairs of men, will provide the time and the way, if given the opportunity by your earnestly desiring it.
True meditation is the simplest and most natural thing in the world, because it is but a retiring into the quiet of the soul, a letting go in the mind of all outer things and relapsing into a peace and a rest in which the Spirit can come forth and speak to the mind. If you only know it, many times a day do you meditate—when your mind dwells upon things in which the personal self is interested. When that part of you is really concerned about a thing, your mind automatically obeys and dwells upon and ponders over that thing until its interest is appeased (worrying, being anxious, grieving, and such are all negative, unconscious meditation).
Thus you can see that meditation is natural and in no way difficult. It only appears difficult because the human mind, which has been accustomed to having its own way and to thinking of only the personal things in which it is interested, rebels against restraint, particularly when required to think of impersonal and abstract things that you are interested in and wish light upon (purposeful thinking is positive and conscious meditation). We will try to indicate more clearly what we mean.
In "The Impersonal Life" you are shown that it is really God who is living in your body and is your Real Self, and that you are of no importance whatsoever, either to yourself or to the world at large, until you recognize this great truth in a more or less conscious and intelligent way. This of course is not easy to grasp by a mind that considers you and itself separate and apart from God.
Now consider that the life that grew you and is living you is the same life that is growing the grass, the flowers, the trees, the animals and all humanity, and is so wise and powerful a life that despite every obstacle it develops all to the maturity of that which it is their destiny to be. Did you or anyone of these others have any conscious part in the direction of or actual process of such growing? You know that you did not, and you know that this life and intelligence and will doing it all is God—Who is All in all.
Now try to realize that this life that is growing you, this mind that is intelligently directing all, and this will whose power is accomplishing all, is actually God and cannot be you or anyone else. Try to perceive the great truth of this by imagining how it must be.
To do this you must lift your mind away from this page and meditate upon what has been stated, and if you are greatly interested, you will find your attention fixed upon this life within you, imagining it as God living in your body, a very wise and loving Consciousness filling and possessing it, moving it and causing it to do what He wants it to do. And it will gradually dawn upon you that the part of you that is considering all this is only your mind, and then in a wondrously illuminating way it may flash into your consciousness that therefore you are not at all what you before thought was the you living in your body, but that it is a much bigger and more wonderful you—that it is God! that God is the Real You!! and that the other you is but a part of His Mind—a center of His Consciousness that before had thought itself separate from Him.
If you have truly followed this and actually caused your mind to consider and do everything suggested, some illumination must have resulted, for the God of you would surely respond to a heart earnestly desiring to know Him.
The above would be real meditation, and real inner work, as you will by this time have realized.
All meditation is nothing more nor less than a pondering over or reflecting upon any subject to which you direct your mind's attention. The reason we urge the use of meditation is two-fold: that you can cultivate the power and ability to require your mind to consider thoroughly any subject you wish it to understand fully, realizing that as you hold the subject firmly before your mind's eye, light will pour in, enabling you to see it from many angles. Also that your mind may gradually learn who you are—learn of your inner self—and that it, the mind, is your child, your instrument that you are teaching, training and disciplining so that it will serve you selflessly and efficiently.
Until you have disciplined your mind, you cannot control your thoughts, and as by being able to control your thoughts you can control your emotions, you can then bring your body into harmony; for its health is largely controlled by the emotions or feelings harbored in the heart.
When you become more or less master of your mind and dedicate it to the service of the Christ— your God-Self, your real work begins; for all such earnest ones are accepted and put to that work for which they have been fitted and prepared.
But not until the mind is thoroughly under control can real work be given. Real work awaits, but it will be mental work—in the Silence and at night, when the brain minds of those who seek and need help are still, so their souls can hear and accept. Such Real Work will be given when you are ready.
GROUPS
Wherever it is possible we urge that groups be formed for study and service, for our Master has promised "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them."
Aspirants who put service first, and in whom the personality has been submerged, always accomplish more and unfold more rapidly while working and studying in a group, for there they quickly become aware of the one Power and Presence and individually feel the results in their daily meditation and work.
It is suggested that all who feel so led watch for others of their acquaintance who they think may be ready for these teachings—those who are not seeking for self, but who are longing to serve the Master within in some definite way. The first lesson, "Seek Ye First the Kingdom," will be sent to any of such, if their names are forwarded to the publisher.
In groups real ways of service will open up to all in due season—when the unfoldment awaiting is able to manifest. This does not imply that only in groups can one unfold in consciousness so that the Master can accomplish His Will through you, but only that in them He can make known His Presence more easily as He indicates above.
Many are so situated that meeting with others regularly is difficult and often impossible. Such will be shown that their present opportunity for service is in the very condition where they are now placed, but all such should be just that much more faithful in their regular communion with Him through meditation.
Go to the next Chapter ~ I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life