Postscript
Your
world is concerned with bodies. We are concerned with spirits that have
to express themselves through bodies. If the spirit is expressing itself
properly, all will go well with the body, for matter is always the servant,
not the master. Spirit is king and matter is subject.
This truth
has illumined your life and made all the difference. You have found yourself.
It has brought you knowledge and an understanding that cannot be assessed
in earthly language or even material wealth.
This is
an abiding truth. The knowledge of this reality is the key that unlocks
all the riddles and enables everything to fall into its proper place. It
is not what affects the body which is so important but what touches the
soul. We can never say to you that no problems will cross your path, no
difficulties will arise, or that you will encounter no obstacles or handicaps.
That would be untrue.
Earthly
life is a struggle in which inner perfection seeks to express itself through
imperfection, in which the gold seeks to drive out the dross. Difficulties,
problems and obstacles and handicaps are the essential milestones on the
road of spiritual unfoldment and attainment. If the prizes of the spirit
were easily attained they would not be worth having. Self-discipline, self-mastery,
self-illumination, self-unfoldment, these are the prizes to be earned,
but no one can come by them easily. There is no royal road.
It is through
struggle and strife, through finding light when you have been in the shadows,
appreciating the sunshine because you have endured the storm - it is only
thus that the soul comes into its own. As correspondingly low as man sinks
so correspondingly high can he rise. There could be no Mount of Transfiguration
without the Garden of Gethsemane. What happened to the Nazarene is in essence
what happens to every human earthly life. Defeat and victory are both essential,
for how can you know victory unless you have tasted defeat?
I am trying
very hard to put in nutshell form the aphorisms of the spirit which have
strict application to daily life. This is not abstruse philosophy. It is
very practical spiritual teaching, which teaches you how to derive from
life all that it has to offer. The satisfaction is an inner serenity and
radiance, an inner tranquillity and confidence because the soul is coming
into its own. When the soul is aware of this, you have found yourself and
you have found the Great Spirit. Then life’s pinpricks will not touch you,
for you will have access to that tremendous armoury of the spirit which
can sustain you at all times.
There is
no problem so great that you do not possess the power to solve it, no burden
so heavy that you do not possess the power to carry it. These are truths
which I have tried to instill into you and others. Because I know that
once they have obtained a lodgement within you, you are so well armed that
nothing will daunt you. The power of the spirit is very mighty, but it
can flow only where the means allow it to do so. You are the channels.
You give
us the channels and we will see that the power flows through you and through
others. You give us the willing heart and mind and soul that aspire to
serve and you are providing conditions by which that majestic power of
the spirit can flow. And as it flows through you, it always leaves behind
that deposit, which stimulates your own life. There is nothing in this
world of matter that can touch your soul in any way unless you allow it
to do so.
You have
learnt many lessons and you must learn them, for I cannot learn them for
you. The hardest part of our work is to stand aside and watch while those
we love fight the battle. I do not mean by standing aside that we do not
help them. What we would willingly do is to fight it for them. We must
not rob you of your incentive or divest you of the means by which your
souls grows.
The Nazarene
said that the kingdom of heaven is within. That is a great truth. The Great
Spirit is not in some far-off, remote or inaccessible sphere. The Great
Spirit is within you and you are within the Great Spirit. Within yourself
there are the means for achieving all that is necessary for your own growth
and development. That is what you are in your world for.
Because
of what I have seen I have an unshakable confidence in the power that rules
the universe. I marvel and respect that Intelligence which, with unfailing
constancy, and guided by divine love, establishes the whole course of the
universe. If only those who live on earth would learn to harmonize themselves
with that power, they could change the whole of the world in which they
live. This is all freely offered. There could be nothing more lavish than
the bounty which the Great Spirit offers to every child.
Never despair,
never be despondent. Try not to worry or to allow anxiety to find a lodgement
in your being. Never permit fear to draw close to you. Banish fear, that
cold and unwelcome visitor who should never be given admittance to your
temple. You have enjoyed monetarily that inner serenity which comes when
you have known that you are one with the purpose behind life. Allow that
spirit power, which is round and about you, to guide you. It will help
you. It will clearly show you the way. When confronted with any problem
withdraw from the rush, the bustle, the seething controversy. Withdraw
to the silence and allow that power to point the way.
The jewels
of the spirit never tarnish or lose their lustre. People who have much
of your world’s goods do not realize that they are only trustees. To the
soul who understands, wealth, like knowledge, brings greater responsibilities.
You are an instrument of the greatest power in the universe. You may wear
no prelate’s robes or have a cardinal’s ring on your finger. These are
trappings. They have nothing whatever to do with reality. The power of
which you are one instrument is greater than all popes, prelates or cardinals.
It is the mightiest power of all.