All these things added ..

All These
Things Added

JAMES ALLEN

ALL THESE THINGS ADDED

ALL THESE

THINGS ADDED

"ENTERING THE KINGDOM"

AND

"THE HEAVENLY LIFE"

JAMES ALLEN

Author of "From Poverty to Power," "As A Man Thinketh,

"Out From the Heart," "Byways of Blessedness,"

"Morning and Evening Thoughts,"

"Through the Gate of

Good."

COPYRIGHTED BY

THE SHELDON UNIVERSITY PRESS

LIBERTYVILLE, ILLINOIS

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PREFACE

TAMES ALLEN is one of those who has
entered the Kingdom. His messages come to
the world-weary as a benediction. In his thoughts
they find that which brings them surcease from
sorrow. He is a man who has the cosmic sense.
He sees the working of the law. He realizes
that the only sin is Ignorance and that the
greatest virtue is Wisdom. He knows, too,
that none of us is fit to judge others. We may
only judge ourselves. James Allen does not
seek to create a cult. All he aims to do is to
live the Christ life in the busy world. This he
does by rendering service. Allen is one of those
who realize that the only true religion is the
Religion of Service. He knows that the Carpen-
ter was scientifically right when he said in
the long ago: "The greatest among ye shall be
your servant." And in this book of inspiration
the author aims to teach men how they can
best serve.

THOMAS DREIER.
Liberty ville, Illinois.

CONTENTS

PART I

ENTERING THE KINGDOM

The Soul's Great Need 9

The Competitive Laws and the Law of Love 13

Finding a Principle 41

At Rest in the Kingdom and All Things Added 67

PART II

THE HEAVENLY LIFE

The Divine Centre 83

The Eternal Now 93

The "Original Simplicity" . 99

The Unveiling Wisdom . . . . 107

The Might of Meekness 115

The Righteous Man 125

Perfect Love 129

Perfect Freedom 137

Greatness and Goodness 143

Heaven in the Heart 153

PART I
ENTERING THE KINGDOM

THE SOUL'S GREAT NEED

I sought the world, but Peace was not there;

I courted learning, but Truth was not revealed;

I sojourned with philosophy, but my heart was sore

with vanity.
And I cried, Where is Peace to be found!
And where is the hiding-place of Truth!

Filius Lucis.

TT^VERY human soul is in need. The
*^* expression of that need varies with in-
dividuals, but there is not one soul that does
not feel it in some degree. It is a spiritual and
causal need which takes the form, in souls
of a particular development, of a deep
and inexpressible hunger that the outward
things of life, however abundantly possessed,
never can satisfy. Yet the majority, im-
perfect in knowledge and misled by appear-
ances, seek to satisfy this hunger by striving
for material possessions, believing that
these will satisfy their need and bring
them peace.

Every soul consciously or unconsciously
hungers for righteousness, and every soul

10 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

seeks to gratify that hunger in its own par-
ticular way and in accordance with its own
particular state of knowledge. The hun-
ger is one, and the righteousness is one, but
the pathways by which righteousness is
sought are many. They who seek con-
sciously are blessed, and shall shortly
find the final and permanent satisfaction
of soul that righteousness alone can give;
for they have come into a knowledge of
the true path. They who seek uncon-
sciously, although for a time they may
bathe in a sea of pleasure, are not blest;
for they are carving out for themselves
pathways of suffering over which they must
walk with torn and wounded feet, and their
hunger will increase, and the soul cry out
for its lost heritage — the eternal heritage of
righteousness.

Not in any of the three worlds can the
soul find lasting satisfaction, apart from the
realization of righteousness, Bodied or dis-
embodied, it is ceaselessly driven on by the
discipline of suffering, until at last, in its
extremity, it flies to its only refuge — the

THE SOUL'S GREAT NEED 11

refuge of righteousness — and finds the joy,
satisfaction, and peace that it had so long
and so vainly sought.

The great need of the soul, then, is the
need of this permanent principle, called
righteousness, on which it may stand securely
and restfully amid the tempests of earthly
existence, bewildered no more, whereon it
may build the mansion of a beautiful,
peaceful, and perfect life.

It is in the realization of this principle
that the Kingdom of Heaven, the abiding
home of the soul, resides, and this is the
source and storehouse of every permanent
blessing. Finding it, all is found; not
finding it, all is lost. It is an attitude of
mind, a state of consciousness, an ineffable
knowledge, in which the struggle for exist-
ence ceases and the soul finds itself at
rest in the midst of plenty, where its great
need, yea, its every need, is satisfied, with-
out strife and without fear. Blessed are
they who earnestly and intelligently seek it,
for it is impossible that such should seek
in vain.

THE COMPETITIVE LAWS AND THE
THE LAW OF LOVE

When I am pure

I shall have solved the mystery of life,

I shall be sure

When I am free from hatred, lust and strife,

I am in Truth, and Truth abides in me.

I shall be safe and sane and wholly free

When I am pure.

FT has been said that the laws of Nature
* are cruel; it has likewise been said that
they are kind. The one statement is the
result of dwelling exclusively upon the
fiercely competitive aspeot of Nature; the
other results from viewing only the pro-
tective and kindly aspect. In reality, natural
laws are neither cruel nor kind; they are
absolutely just — are, in fact, the outwork-
ing of the indestructible principle of justice
itself.

The cruelty and consequent suffering
so prevalent in Nature, is not inherent
in the heart and substance of life; it is
a passing phase of evolution, a painful

14 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

experience, that will ultimately ripen into
the fruit of a more perfect knowledge, a
dark night of ignorance and unrest, leading
to a glorious morning of joy and peace.

When a little child is burnt by matches,
we do not ascribe cruelty to the working
of the natural law by virtue of which the
child was injured; we infer ignorance in
the child, or carelessness on the part of its
guardians. Even so, men and creatures are
daily being consumed in the invisible flames
of passion, succumbing to the ceaseless
interplay of the fiery psychic forces that
they do not understand, but which they
shall at last learn how to control and use
to their own protection, and not, as at
present, foolishly employ to their own de-
struction.

To understand, control, and adjust
harmoniously the invisible forces of its own
soul is the ultimate destiny of every being
and creature. Some men have accomplished
this supreme and exalted purpose in the
past; some have likewise succeeded in the
present; until this is done, the place of

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 15

rest cannot be entered wherein one receives
everything necessary for one's well-being
and happiness, without striving and with
freedom from pain.

In an age like the present, when the chord
of life is strained to its highest pitch in
all civilized countries, when men by striv-
ing each with each in every depart-
ment of life for the vanities and material
possessions of this perishable existence have
developed competition to the utmost limit
of action and endurance — in such an age the
sublimest heights of knowledge are scaled, the
supremest spiritual conquests are achieved;
for when the soul is most tried its need is
greatest, and where the need is great, great
will be the effort. Where, also, tempta-
tions are powerful, greater and more
enduring will be the victory. Men love
the competitive strife with their fellows
while it promises and seems to bring them
gain and happiness; but when the inevitable
reaction comes and the cold steel of selfish
strife that their own hands have forged
enters their own hearts, then, and not till

E.K.-2]

16 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

then, do they seek a better way. "Blessed
are they that mourn" — that have come to
the end of strife, and have found the pain
and sorrow to which it leads; for unto them
and unto them only, can open the door
that leads to the Kingdom of Peace.

In searching for this Kingdom, it is neces-
sary fully to understand the nature and
origin of all that prevents its realization:
namely, the strife of nature, the competi-
tive laws operative in human affairs, and
the universal unrest, insecurity and fear
that accompany these factors; without
such an understanding there can be no
sound comprehension of what constitutes
the true and the false in life, and therefore
no real spiritual advancement. Before the
true can be apprehended and enjoyed, the
false must be unveiled; before the real
can be perceived as the real, the illusions
that distort it must be dispersed; and
before the limitless expanse of Truth can
open out before us, the limited experience
that is confined to the world of visible
and superficial effects must be transcended-

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 17

Let, therefore, those of the readers who
are thoughtful and earnest and are dili-
gently seeking or are willing to seek for
the basis of thought and conduct that
shall simplify and harmonize the bewildering
complexities and inequalities of life, walk
step by step as the way is opened to the
Kingdom; first descending into hell the
world of strife and self-seeking — in order
that, having comprehended its intricate
ways, we may afterwards ascend into
Heaven, into the world of Peace, and Love.

It is the custom of some households dur-
ing the hard frosts of winter to put out food
for the birds; and it is a noticeable fact
that these creatures when really starving
live together most amicably, huddling
together to keep one another warm
and refraining from all strife. If a small
quantity of food be given them they will
eat it with comparative freedom from
contention; but let a quantity of food
more than sufficient for all be thrown
to them, and fighting over the coveted
provender at once ensues. Occasionally we

18 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

have put out a loaf of bread, whereupon
the contention of the birds became
fierce and prolonged, although there was
more than all could possibly eat during
several days. Some, having gorged them-
selves until they could eat no more, would
stand upon the loaf and hover round it,
pecking fiercely at all newcomers, and
endeavoring to prevent them from obtain-
ing any of the food. Along with this
contention there was noticeable a great
fear. With each mouthful of food taken
the birds looked about in nervous terror,
apprehensive of losing their food.

In this simple incident we have an illus-
tration— crude, but true — of the basis and
outworkings of competitive laws in Nature
and in human affairs. It is not scarcity
that produces competition, it is abundance;
so that the richer and more luxurious
a nation becomes, the keener and harder
becomes the competition for securing
the necessaries and luxuries of life.
Let famine overtake a city or a nation, and
at once compassion and sympathy take the

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE ]9

place of competitive strife; and, in the
blessedness of giving and receiving, men
enjoy a foretaste of the heavenly bliss that
the spiritually wise have found, * which
all shall ultimately reach.

The fact that abundance and not scarcity
creates competition, should be held con-
stantly in mind by the reader during the
perusal of this book, as it throws a searching
light not only on the statements herein con-
tained, but upon every problem relating
to social life and human conduct. More-
over, if it be deeply and earnestly meditated
upon, and its lessons applied to individual
conduct, it will make plain the Way which
leads to the Kingdom.

Let us now search out the cause of this
fact, in order that the evils connected with
it may be transcended.

Every phenomenon in social and national
life — as in Nature — is an effect, and all these
effects arise in a cause neither remote
nor detached, but the immediate soul and
life of the effect itself. As the seed is
contained in the flower, and the flower

20 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

in the seed, so the relation of cause and
effect is intimate and inseparable. An
effect, also, is vivified and propagated by
the life and impulse existing in the cause,
not by any life inherent in itself.

Looking out upon the world, we behold it
as an arena of strife in which individuals,
communities, and nations are constantly
engaged in struggle, striving with each
other for superiority and for the largest
share of worldly possessions. We see, also,
that the weaker fall out defeated, and that
the strong — those equipped to pursue
the combat with undiminished ardor
— obtain the victory, and enter into pos-
session. Along with this struggle we
see the suffering inevitably connected
with it : men and women, broken down
with the weight of their responsibilities,
failing in their efforts and losing all;
families and communities broken up, and
nations subdued and subordinated. We find
seas of tears, telling of unspeakable anguish
and grief; we see painful partings and
unnatural deaths; and we know that this

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 21

life of strife is largely a life of sorrow when
stripped of its surface appearances.

Such, briefly sketched, are the phenomena
connected with that aspect of human life
with which we are now dealing; such are
the effects as we see them; and they have
one common cause that is found in the
human heart itself. As all the multiform
varieties of plant life have one common soil
from which to draw their sustenance,
by virtue of which they live and thrive, so
all the varied activities of human life are
rooted in, and draw their vitality from,
one common source — the human heart —
the spirit within. The cause of all suffer-
ing and of all happiness resides in the inner
activities of the heart and mind, not in the
outer activities of human life, and every
external agency is sustained by the life it
derives from human conduct.

The organized life-principle in man carves
for itself outward channels along which it
can pour its pent-up energies, makes for
itself vehicles through which it can manifest
its potency and reap its experience, and

22 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

as a result we have our religious, social,
and political organizations.

All visible manifestations of human
life, then, are effects; and as such, although*
they may possess a reflex action, they can
never be causes, but must remain for ever
what they are — dead effects, electrified into
life by an enduring and profound cause.

It is the custom of men to wander about
in this world of effects, mistaking its
illusions for realities and eternally transposing
and readjusting these effects in order to
arrive at a solution of human problems,
instead of reaching down to the underlying
cause which is at once the centre of unifica-
tion and the basis upon which to build a
peace-giving solution of human life.

The strife of the world in all its forms,
whether it be war, social or political quarrel-
ing, sectarian hatred, private disputes, or
commercial competiton, has its origin in
a common cause, namely, individual
selfishness. This term selfishness is employed
in a far-reaching sense, including in it all
forms of self-love and egotism — both in the

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 23

desire to pander to, and to preserve at all
costs, the personality.

This element of selfishness is the life and
soul of competition and of the competitive
laws. Apart from it they have no existence.
But in the life of every individual in whose
heart selfishness in any form is harbored
these laws are brought into play, and the
individual is subject to them.

Innumerable economic systems have failed,
and must fail, to extirpate the strife of the
world. They are the outcome of the delusion
that outward systems of government are the
causes of that strife, whereas they are merely
the visible and transient effects of the inward
strife, the channels through which it must
necessarily manifest itself. I am the way,
the truth, the life. To destroy the chan-
nel is, and must ever be, ineffectual;
the inward energy will immediately make
for itself another, and still another and
another. Strife cannot cease and the com-
petitive laws must prevail so long as selfish-
ness is fostered in the heart. All reforms
fail where this element is ignored or

24 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

unaccounted for; all reforms succeed
where it is recognized, and steps are taken
for its removal.

Selfishness, then, is the root cause of
competition, the foundation on which all
competitive systems rest, and the sustaining
source of the competitive laws. It will
thus be seen that all competitive systems,
all the visible activities of the struggle of
man with man, are the leaves and branches
of a tree that overspreads the whole earth,
the root of that tree being individual
selfishness,, and the ripened fruits pain and
sorrow. This tree cannot be destroyed
by merely lopping off its branches; to do
this effectually the root must be destroyed.

To introduce measures in the form of
changed external conditions is merely lop-
ping off the branches; and as the cutting
away of certain branches of a tree gives
added vigor to those remaining, even
so the very means taken to curtail compe-
titive strife, when those means deal entirely
with its outward effects, will only add
strength and vigor to the tree whose

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 25

roots are all the time being fostered
and encouraged in the human heart. The
most that even legislation can do is to
prune the branches, and so prevent the
tree from altogether running wild.

Great efforts have been put forward to
found a city that shall be a veritable Eden
planted in the midst of orchards, whose inhabi-
tants shall live in comfort and comparative
repose. Beautiful and laudable are all such
efforts when prompted by divine love. But such
a city cannot exist, or cannot long remain
the Eden it aims to be in its outward form,
unless the majority of its inhabitants have sub-
dued and conquered the inward selfishness.
Even one form of selfishness, namely, self-
indulgence, if fostered by its inhabitants, will
completely undermine that city, levelling its
orchards to the ground, converting its
beautiful dwellings into competitive marts
or obnoxious centres for the personal
gratification of appetite, and some of its
public buildings into institutions for the
maintenance of order; and upon its public
spaces will rise gaols, asylums, and orphan-

26 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

ages; for where the spirit of self-indulgence
is, the means for its gratification will be
immediately adopted, without considering
the good of others or of the community —
selfishness isJ blind — and the fruits of that
gratification will be rapidly reaped.

The building of pleasant houses and the
planting of beautiful orchards and gardens
can never, of itself, constitute an ideal
city unless its inhabitants have learned
that self-sacrifice is better than self-protection,
and have first established in their own hearts
a city of divine love. When a sufficient
number of men and women have done this,
the ideal city will appear, and flourish, and
prosper, and great will be its peace, for
out of the heart are the issues of life.

Having found that selfishness is the root
cause of all competition and strife the
question naturally arises how this
cause shall be dealt with, for it naturally
follows that a cause being destroyed, all
its effects cease; a cause being propagated,
all its effects, however they may be modified
from without, must continue. Every man

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 27

who has thought deeply upon the
problem of life, and meditated sympa-
thetically upon the sufferings of mankind,
has seen that selfishness is at the root of
all sorrow — in fact, this is one of the truths
first apprehended by the thoughtful
mind. Along with this perception there
has been born within him a longing
to formulate some method by which such
selfishness might be overcome. The first
impulse of such a man is to endeavor to
frame some outward law, or introduce
some new social arrangements or regula-
tions, that shall put a check on the sel-
fishness of others. The second tendency
of his mind will be to feel his utter helpless-
ness before the great iron wall of selfishness
by which he is confronted. Both these
attitudes of mind are the result of an
incomplete knowledge of what constitutes
selfishness. This partial knowledge dom-
inates him because, although he has over-
come the grosser forms of selfishness in
himself, and is so far noble, he is yet selfish
in other and more remote and subtle

28 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

directions. This feeling of helplessness
is the prelude to one of two conditions: the
man will either give up in despair and
again sink himself in the selfishness of
the world, or he will search and meditate
until he finds another way out of the
difficulty. That way he will find. Look-
ing more and more deeply into the things
of life; reflecting, meditating, examin-
ing, and analyzing; grappling every diffi-
culty and problem with intensity of
thought, and developing day by day a
profounder love of Truth — by these means
his heart will grow and his comprehension
expand, until at last he realizes that
the way to destroy selfishness is not to try
to destroy one form of it in other people,
but to destroy it utterly, root and branch,
in himself.

The perception of this truth constitutes
spiritual illumination, and when once it
is awakened in the mind, the strait and
narrow way is revealed, and the shining
Gates of the Kingdom already loom in
the distance. Then does a man apply

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 29

to himself — not to others — these words:
"And why beholdest thou the mote that
is in thy brother's eye, but considerest
not the beam that is in thine own eye ?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let
me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and,
behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? Thou
hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of
thine own eye; and then shalt thou see
clearly to cast out the mote out of thy
brother's eye." When a man can apply
these words to himself and act upon them,
judging himself mercilessly but judging
none other, then will he rise above and render
of no effect the laws of competition, and will
find the higher Law of Love, subjecting him-
self to which every evil thing will flee from
him, and the joys and blessings that the selfish
vainly seek will constantly wait upon him. Not
only this, having lifted himself, he will lift the
world. By his example many will see the
Way, and will walk it; and the powers of light
shall be the stronger for his having lived.

It will here be asked: "But will not a
man who has risen above his selfishness,

mm

30 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

and therefore above the competitive strife,
suffer through the selfishness and com-
petition of those around him ? Will he
not, after all the trouble he has taken
to purify himself, suffer at the hands of
the impure ?" No; he will not. The
equity of the Divine Order is perfect
and cannot be subverted, so that it is im-
possible for one who has overcome selfish-
ness to be subject to the laws that
are brought into operation by the action
of selfishness: in other words, each indi-
vidual suffers by virtue of his own selfishness.
It is true that all the selfish come under
the operation of the competitive laws and
suffer collectively, each acting more or
less as the instrument by which the suffering
of others is brought about, and that this makes
it appear on the surface as though men
suffered for the sins of others rather than
their own. But the truth is that in a uni-
verse the very basis of which is harmony,
which can only be sustained by the
perfect adjustment of all its parts, each
unit receives its own measure of adjustment,

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 31

and suffers by and of itself. Each man
comes under the laws of his own being,
never under those of another. True, he
will suffer like another and even through
the instrumentality of another, if he elects
to live under the same conditions as that
other. But if he chooses to desert those
conditions and live under another and
higher set of conditions of which that other
is ignorant, he will cease to come under
or be affected by the lower laws.

Let us now go back to the symbol of the
tree, and carry the analogy a little further.
Just as the leaves and the branches are
sustained by the roots, so the roots derive
their nourishment from the soil, groping in
the darkness, yet with assured instinct, for the
sustenance which the tree demands. In like
manner, selfishness, the root of the tree of evil
and of suffering, derives its nourishment from
the dark soil of ignorance. In this it thrives;
upon this it stands and flourishes. By ignor-
ance is meant something vastly different from
lack of learning; and the sense in which it is
used will be made plain.

E.K.-3]

32 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

Selfishness gropes in the dark. It has
no real knowledge; by its very nature it
is cut off from the source of enlighten-
ment; it is a blind impulse, knowing nothing;
obeying no law, for it knows none; and is
thereby forcibly bound to those competitive
laws by virtue of which suffering is inflicted
in order that harmony may be maintained.
We live in a world, a universe, abounding
in all good things. So great is the
abundance of spiritual, mental, and material
blessings that every man and woman on
this globe could not only be provided with
every necessary good, but could live in the
midst of abounding plenty and still leave
much to spare. Yet in spite of this what
a spectacle of ignorance do we behold!
We see on one hand millions of men
and women chained to a ceaseless slavery,
interminably toiling in order to obtain a
poor and scanty meal and a garment to
cover their nakedness; and on the other
hand we see thousands who already have
more than they require and can well manage
depriving themselves of all the blessings

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 33

of a true life and of the vast opportunities
that their possessions place within their
reach, in order to accumulate more of
those material things for which they have
no legitimate use. Surely men and women
have no more wisdom than the fowls and the
beasts that fight over the possession of
more than they can all well use, which
all could enjoy in peace.

Such a condition of things can only
obtain in a state of ignorance deep and
dark; so dark and dense as to be utterly
impenetrable save to the unselfish eye of
wisdom and truth. In the midst of all this
striving after place and food and rainment,
there works unseen, yet potent and unerring,
the Overruling Law of Justice, meting out to
every individual his own quota of merit and
demerit. It is impartial; it bestows no
favors; it inflicts no unearned punishments:

"It knows not wrath nor pardon; utter-true

Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs;
Times are as nought, to-morrow it will judge,
Or after many days."

The rich and the poor alike suffer for
their own selfishness; and none escape.

34 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

The rich have their particular sufferings
as well as the poor. Moreover, the rich
are continually losing their riches; the poor
are continually acquiring them. The poor
man of to-day is the rich man of to-morrow,
and vice versa. There is no stability, no
security, in hell, and only brief and occasional
periods of respite from suffering in some
form or other. Fear, also, follows men
like a great shadow, for the man who
obtains and holds by selfish force will
be haunted by a feeling of insecurity,
continually fearing loss; while the poor
man, who is selfishly seeking or covet-
ing material riches, will be harrassed by
the fear of destitution. One and all
who live in this under-world of strife are
overshadowed by one great fear — the fear
of death.

Surrounded by the darkness of ignorance,
and having no knowledge of those eternal
and life-sustaining Principles out of which
all things proceed, men labor under the
delusion that the most important and
essential things in life are food and cloth-

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 35

ing and that their first duty is to strive
to obtain these, believing that these out-
ward things are the source and cause of
all comfort and happiness. It is the blind
animal instinct of self-preservation — the
preservation of the body and personality —
by virtue of which each man opposes him-
self to other men in order to get a living
or secure a competency, believing that
if he does not keep an incessant watch
on other men and constantly renew the
struggle, they will ultimately take the
bread out of his mouth.

Out of this initial delusion comes all
the train of delusions with their attend-
ant sufferings that obtains in the world
around us. Food and clothing are not the
essential things of life; not the causes of
happiness. They are non-essentials, effects,
and, as such, proceed by a process of natural
law from the essentials, the underlying
cause. The essential things in life are the
enduring elements in character: integrity,
faith, righteousness, self-sacrifice, compas-
sion, love; and out of these all good things

36 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

proceed. Food, clothing, and money are
inanimate effects; there is in them no life, no
power except that with which we invest
them. They are without vice and virtue
and can neither bless nor harm. Even the
body which men believe to be themselves,
to which they pander, and which they long
to keep, is constantly being yielded up to
the dust, it is ever changing. But the higher
elements of character are life itself; and to
practise these, to trust them, and to live
entirely in them, constitute the Kingdom
of Heaven.

The man who says, "I will first of all
earn a competence and secure a good posi-
tion in life, and then give my mind to
these higher things," does not understand
these higher things and does not believe them
to be higher; if he did, it would not
be possible for him to neglect them. He
believes the material excrescences of life
to be the higher, and therefore seeks
them first. He believes money, clothing,
and position to be of vast and essential
importance, righteousness and truth to be

COMPETITIVE LAWS AND LAW OF LOVE 37

at best secondary; for a man sacrifices
what he believes to be less to what he
believes to be greater. Immediately
a man realizes that righteousness is of more
importance than the getting of food and
clothing, he ceases to strive after the latter,
and begins to live for the former. It is
here where we come to the dividing line
between the two Kingdoms: hell and
Heaven.

Once a man perceives the beauty and
enduring reality of righteousness, his whole
attitude of mind toward himself and others
and the things within and around him
changes. The love of personal existence
gradually loses hold on him; the instinct
of self-preservation begins to fade, and the
practice of self-renunciation takes its place.
For the sacrifice of others or of the happi-
ness of others to his own good, he substi-
tutes the sacrifice of self and of his own
happiness for the good of others.
Thus rising above self, he rises above the
competitive strife that is the outcome
of self and above the competitive laws

38 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

that operate only in the region of self
and for the regulation of its blind im-
pulses. He is like a man who has climbed
a mountain and thereby risen above all
the disturbing currents in the valleys below
him. The clouds pour down their rain,
the thunders roll and the lightnings flash,
the fogs obscure, and the hurricanes uproot
and destroy, but they cannot reach him on
the calm heights where he stands, there
to dwell in continual sunshine and peace.

In the life of such a man the lower laws
cease to operate, and he now comes under
the protection of a higher Law — namely,
the Law of Love; and in accordance with
his faithfulness and obedience to this Law
will all that is necessary for his well-being
come to him at the time he requires
it. The idea of gaining a position in the
world cannot enter his mind, and the
external necessities of life, such as money,
food and clothing, he scarcely ever thinks
about. Subjecting himself for the good
of others, performing all his duties scrupu-
lously and without thinking of reward, and

COMPETITIVE LAW AND LAW OF LOVE 39

living day by day in the discipline of right-
eousness, all other things follow at the
right time and in the right order. Just as
the suffering and strife inhere in and
spring from their root-cause, selfishness,
so blessedness and peace inhere in and
spring from their root-cause, righteousness.
It is a full and all-embracing blessed-
ness, complete and perfect in every depart-
ment of life; for what is morally and
spiritually right is physically and materially
right.

Such a man is free, for he is freed from
all anxiety, worry, fear, despondency, all
the mental disturbances that derive their
vitality from the elements of self; he
lives in constant joy and peace, and this
while living in the very midst of the competi-
tive strife of the world. Yet, though walking
in the midst of hell, its flames fall back before
and around him, so that not one hair of his
head can be singed. Though he walks in
the midst of the lions of selfish force, for
him their jaws are closed and their ferocity
subdued. Though on every hand men

40 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

are falling around him in the fierce battle
of life, he falls not, neither is he dismayed :
no deadly bullet can reach him, no
poisoned shaft can pierce the impenetrable
armor of his righteousness. Having lost
the little, personal, self-seeking life of suffer-
ing, fear, anxiety, and want, he has found
the illimitable, glorious, self-perfecting life
of joy and peace and plenty. "Therefore
take no thought saying, What shall we
eat ? or, What shall we drink ? or, Where-
withal shall we be clothed ? . . . For
your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need
of all these things. But seek ye first the
Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto
you.

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE

Be still, my soul, and know that peace is thine;
Be steadfast, heart, and know that strength divine
Belongs to thee; cease from thy turmoil, mind,
And thou the everlasting rest shalt find.

T TOW then shall a man reach the Kingdom ?
* *~ By what process shall he find the light
that alone can disperse his darkness ? In
what way can he overcome the inward
selfishness which is strong, and deeply
rooted ?

A man will reach the Kingdom by purify-
ing himself; and he can do this only by
pursuing a process of self-examination and
self-analysis. Selfishness must be dis-
covered and understood before it can be
removed. It is powerless to remove itself,
neither will it pass away of itself. As dark-
ness ceases only when light is introduced;
so ignorance can only be dispersed by
Knowledge; selfishness by Love. Seeing
that in selfishness there is no security, no
stability, no peace, the whole process of

42 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

seeking the Kingdom resolves itself into a
search for a Principle: a divine and perma-
nent Principle on which a man can stand
secure, freed from himself — from the
personal element, and from the tyranny
and slavery which that personal self exacts
and demands. A man must first of all
be willing to lose his self-seeking self
before he can find his divine self. He
must realize that selfishness is not worth
clinging to, that it is a master altogether
unworthy of his service, and that divine
Goodness alone is worthy to be enthroned
in his heart as the supreme master of his
life. This means that he must have faith;
for without this equipment there can be
neither progress nor achievement. He must
believe in the desirability of purity, in the
supremacy of righteousness, in the sustaining
power of integrity; he must ever hold before
him the Ideal and Perfect Goodness, and
strive for its achievement with ever-renewed
effort and unflagging zeal. This faith must
be nurtured and its development encouraged.
It must be carefully trimmed and fed and

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 43

kept burning like a lamp in the heart, for
without its radiating light no way will be
seen in the darkness; one will find no path-
way out of self. As the flame increases
and burns with a steadier light, energy,
resolution, and self-reliance will come to
man's aid, and with each step, his progress
be accelerated until at last the Light of
Knowledge will begin to take the place of
the lamp of faith, and the darkness dis-
appear before its searching splendor. Into
his spiritual ken will come the Principles of
the divine Life, and as he approaches them
their incomparable beauty and majestic
symmetry will astonish his vision and glad-
den his heart with a gladness hitherto
unknown.

Along this pathway of self-control and
self-purification — for such it is — every soul
must travel on its way to the Kingdom. So
narrow is this way and so overgrown with
the weeds of selfishness is its entrance, that
it is difficult to find; and, being found, it
cannot be retained except by daily medita-
tion. Without this the spiritual energies

44 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

grow weaker, and the man loses the strength
necessary to go on. As the body is
sustained and invigorated by material food,
so is the spirit strengthened and renewed
by its own food: meditation upon spiritual
things.

He, then, who earnestly resolves to find
the Kingdom will commence to meditate,
and rigidly to examine his heart and mind
and life in the light of the Supreme Per-
fection that is the goal of his attainment.
On his way to that goal, he must pass
through the three Gateways of Surrender. The
first is the Surrender of Desire; the second
the Surrender of Opinion; and the third
the Surrender of Self. Entering into
meditation, he will commence to examine
his desires, tracing them out in his mind,
and following up their effects in his life
and upon his character; and he will quickly
perceive that without the renunciation of
desire a man remains a slave both to him-
self and to his surroundings and circum-
stances. Having discovered this, the first
Gate, that of the Surrender of Desire, is

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 45

entered. Passing through this Gate, he
adopts a process of self-discipline which
is the first step in the purification of the
soul. Hitherto he has lived as a slavish
beast; eating, drinking, sleeping, and pur-
suing enjoyment at the beck and call of his
lower impulses; blindly following and grati-
fying his inclinations without method, not
questioning his conduct, and having no fixed
centre from which to regulate his character
and his life. Now, however, he begins to live
as a man; he curbs his inclinations, controls
his passions, and steadies his mind in the
practice of virtue. He ceases to pursue
enjoyment, but follows the dictates of his
reason, and regulates his conduct in accord-
ance with the demands of an ideal. With
the introduction of this regulating factor
in his life, he perceives at once that certain
habits must be abandoned. He begins to
select his food, and to have his meals at
stated periods, no longer eating at any time
that the sight of food tempts his inclination.
He reduces the number of meals each day,
and also the quantity of food eaten. He

46 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

no longer goes to bed, by day or night, to
indulge in pleasurable indolence, but rather
to give his body the rest it needs; he therefore
regulates his hours of sleep, rising early,
and never encouraging the animal desire to
indulge in dreamy indolence after waking.
Such food and drink as is particularly asso-
ciated with gluttony, cruelty, and animal-
ism he will dispense with altogether, select-
ing the mild and refreshing sustenance
which Nature provides in such rich profusion.
These preliminary steps will be at once
adopted; and as the path of self-govern-
ment and self-examination is pursued, a
clearer and ever clearer perception of the
nature, meaning, and effects of desire will
be developed, until it is seen that the
mere regulation of one's desires is altogether
inadequate and insufficient, and that the
desires themselves must be abandoned, must
be allowed to fall out of the mind and to
have no part in the character and life. It
is at this point that the soul of the seeker
enters the dark Valley of Temptation;
for these desires will not die without a

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 47

struggle and many a fierce effort to
re-assert the power and authority with
which they have hitherto been invested.
Here the lamp of faith must be con-
stantly fed and assiduously trimmed, for all
the light it can radiate will be required
to guide and encourage the traveller
in the dense gloom of this dark Valley.
At first his desires, like so many wild beasts,
will clamor loudly for gratification. Fail-
ing in that, they will then tempt him to
struggle with them that they may over-
throw him. And this last temptation is
greater and more difficult to overcome
than the first, for the desires will not be
stilled until they are utterly ignored; until
they are left unheeded, unconditionally
abandoned, and allowed to perish for want
of food. In passing through this Valley,
the searcher will develop certain powers
necessary to his further advancement;
and these powers are: self-control, self-
reliance, fearlessness, and independence of
thought. Here also he will have to pass
through ridicule and mockery and false

E.K.-4]

48 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

accusation; so much so, that some of his
best friends, yea, even those whom he
most unselfishly loves, will accuse him of
folly and inconsistency, and will do all
they can to argue him back to the life of
animal indulgence, self-seeking, and petty
personal strife. Nearly everybody around
him will suddenly discover that they
know his duty better than he knows it
himself, and, knowing no other and higher
life than their own of mingled excitement
and suffering, they will take great pains
to win him back to it, imagining, in their
ignorance, that he is losing much pleas-
ure and happiness, and gaining nothing
in return. At first this attitude of others
toward him will arouse in him acute suffer-
ing, but he will rapidly discover that this
suffering is caused by his own vanity and
selfishness and the result of his own
subtle desire to be appreciated, admired,
and thought well of; as soon as this
knowledge is arrived at, he will rise into a
higher state of consciousness, where these
things can no longer reach him and inflict

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 49

pain. It is here that he will begin to
stand firm, and to wield with effect the
powers of mind already mentioned. Let
him therefore press on courageously, heed-
ing neither the revilings of his friends
without nor the clamorings of his enemies
within; aspiring, searching, striving; looking
ever toward his Ideal with eyes of holy
love; day by day ridding his mind of selfish
motive, his heart of impure desire; stumbling
sometimes, sometimes falling, but ever travel-
ling onward and rising higher: and, as he re-
cords each night in the silence of his own heart
the journey of the day, let him not despair
if only each day, in spite of all its failures
and falls, record some holy battle fought,
though lost, some silent victory attempted,
though unachieved. The loss of to-day
will add to the gain of to-morrow for him
whose mind is set on the conquest of self.
Passing along the Valley, he will at last
come to the Fields of Sorrow and Loneli-
ness. His desires, having received at his
hands neither encouragement nor suste-
nance, have grown weak, and are now

50 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

falling away and perishing. He is now
climbing out of the Valley, and the darkness
is less dense; but now he realizes, for the
first time, that he is alone. He is like a
man standing at the foot of a great
mountain, and it is night. Above
him towers the lofty peak, beyond which
shine the everlasting stars; a short distance
below him are the glaring lights of the
city he has left, and from it there come
up to him the noises of its inhabitants
— a confused mingling of shouts, screams,
laughter, rumblings of traffic, and the strains
of music. He thinks of his friends, all of
whom are in the city, pursuing their own
particular pleasures; and he is alone upon
the mountain. That city is the City of
Desire and Pleasure, the mountain is the
Mountain of Renunciation, and the climber
now knows that he has left the world,
that henceforth for him its excitements and
strifes are lifeless things, and can tempt
him no more. Resting awhile in this lonely
place, he will taste of sorrow and learn its
secret; harshness and hatred will pass from

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 51

him; his heart will grow soft, and the first
faint broodings of the divine compassion
that shall afterwards absorb his whole
being will overshadow and inspire him.
He will begin to feel with every living
thing in its strivings and sufferings;
gradually, as this lesson is learned, his
own sorrow and loneliness will be forgotten
and will pass away in his great calm love
for others.

Here, also, he will begin to perceive and
understand the working of the hidden
laws that govern the destinies of indi-
viduals and of nations. Having risen above
the lower region of strife and selfishness
within himself, he can now look calmly
down upon it in others and in the world,
to analyze and comprehend it, and he will
see how selfish striving is at the root of all
the world's suffering. His whole attitude to-
ward others and toward the world now under-
goes complete change, and compassion
and love take the place of self-seeking
and self-protection in his mind; as a
result of this, the world alters in its

52 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

attitude toward him. At this juncture
he perceives the folly of competition, and
ceasing from striving to overtop and get
the better of others he begins to encourage
them, both with unselfish thoughts and,
when necessary, with loving acts; this
he does even to those who selfishly com-
pete with him, no longer defending him-
self against them. As a direct result of
this, his worldly affairs begin to prosper as
never before; many of the friends who at
first mocked him commence to respect,
and even to love him; and he suddenly
awakens to the fact that he is coming in
contact with people of a distinctly unworldly
and noble type, of whose existence he had
no knowledge. From many parts and from
long distances these people will come to him
to minister to him and that he may minister
to them, spiritual fellowship and loving
brotherhood will become potent factors in
his life, and so he will pass beyond the
Fields of Sorrow and Loneliness.

The lower competitive laws have now
ceased to operate in his life, and their

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 53

results, which are failure, disaster, exposure,
and destitution, can no longer enter into
and form part of his experience; this
not merely because he has risen above the
lower forms of selfishness in himself, but
because also, in so rising, he has developed
certain powers of mind by which he is
enabled to direct and govern his affairs
with a more powerful and masterly hand.

He, however, has not yet travelled far,
and unless he exercise constant watchful-
ness he may at any time fall back into the
lower world of darkness and strife, revivify-
ing its empty pleasures, and galvanizing
back to life its dead desires. Especially
is there this danger when he reaches the
greatest temptation through which man is
called to pass — the temptation of doubt.
Before reaching, or even perceiving, the
second Gate, that of Surrender of Opinion,
the pilgrim will come upon a great soul-
desert, the Desert of Doubt. Here for
a time he will wander around, while despon-
dency, indecision, and uncertainty, a melan-
choly brood, surround him like a cloud,

54 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

hiding from his view the way imme-
diately in front of him. A new and strange
fear, too, will overtake him, and he
will begin to question the wisdom of
the course he is pursuing. Again the
allurements of the world will be presented
to him, dressed in their most attractive
garb, and the drowning din and stimulating
excitement of worldly battle will once more
assume a desirable aspect. "After all, am
I right?" "What gain is there in this?''
"Does not life itself consist of pleasure and
excitement and battle, and in giving these
up am I not giving up all?" "Am I not
sacrificing the very substance of life for a
meaningless shadow?" "May it not be
that I, after all, am a poor deluded person,
and that all those around me who live the
life of the senses and stand upon its solid,
sure, and easily procured enjoyments are
wiser than I ?" By such dark doubtings
and questionings will he here be tempted
and troubled, until these very doubts
drive him to a deeper searching into the
intricacies of life, and arouse within him

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 55

the feeling of necessity for some permanent
Principle upon which to stand and take
refuge. He will, therefore, while wander-
ing about in this dark Desert, come into
contact with the higher and more subtle
delusions of his own mind, the delusions of
the intellect; and, by contrasting these with
his Ideal, will learn to distinguish between
the real and the unreal, the shadow and
substance, between effect and cause, between
fleeting appearances and permanent Prin-
ciples.

In the Desert of Doubt a man is con-
fronted with all forms of illusion, not only
the illusions of the senses, but also those of
abstract thought and religious emotion. It
is in the testing of, grappling with, and
ultimately destroying these illusions that
he develops still higher powers, those of
discrimination, spiritual perception, stead-
fastness of purpose, and calmness of mind,
by the exercise of which he is enabled to
distinguish unerringly the true from the
false, both in the world of thought and that
of material appearances. Having acquired

56 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

these powers, and learned how to use them
as weapons against himself in his holy war-
fare, he now emerges from the Desert of
Doubt, the mists and mirages of illusion
vanish from his pathway, and there looms
before him the second Gate, the Gateway
of the Surrender of Opinion.

As he approaches this Gate, he sees
before him the whole pathway along which
he is travelling, and, for a space, obtains
a glimpse of the glorious heights of attain-
ment toward which he is moving; he sees
the Temple of the Higher Life in all its
majesty, and already feels within him
the strength and joy and peace of conquest.
With Sir Galahad he can now exclaim:

"I . . . saw the Grail,
The Holy Grail . . .
. . . And one will crown me king
Far in the spiritual city,"

for he knows that his ultimate victory is
assured

He now enters upon a process of self-
conquest altogether distinct from that
which he has hitherto pursued. Up to
the present he has been overcoming,

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 57

transmuting, and simplifying his animal
desires; now he commences to transmute
and simplify his intellect. He has, so far,
been adjusting his feelings to his Ideal; he
now begins to adjust his thoughts to that
Ideal, which also assumes at this point
larger and more beautiful proportions; and
for the first time he perceives what really
constitutes a permanent and imperishable
Principle. He sees that the righteousness
for which he has been searching is fixed
and unvariable; that it cannot be acommo-
dated to man, but that man must reach up
to and obey it; that it consists of an unde-
viating line of conduct, apart from all
considerations of loss or gain, of reward or
punishment; that, in reality, it consists in
abandoning self, with all the sins of desire,
opinion, and self-interest of which that self
is composed, and in living the blameless life
of perfect love toward all men and creatures.
Such a life is fixed and perfect; it is without
turning, change, or qualification, and de-
mands a sinless and perfect conduct. It is
the direct antithesis of the worldly life of self.

58 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

Perceiving this, the seeker sees that
although he has freed himself from the
baser passions and desires which enslave
mankind, he is still in bondage to the fetters
of opinion; that although he has purified
himself with a purity to which few aspire,
and which the world cannot understand,
he is still defiled with a defilement
difficult to wash away, — he loves his
own opinions, and has all along been con-
founding them with Truth, with the Prin-
ciple for which he is seeking. He is not
yet free from strife, and is still involved in
the competitive laws as they obtain in the
higher realm of thought. He still believes
that in his opinions he is right and
others wrong; in his egotism he has
even fallen so low as to bestow a mock
pity on those who hold opinions the reverse
of his own. But now, realizing this more
subtle form of selfishness by which he is
enslaved and perceiving all the train of
sufferings that spring from it, having also
acquired the priceless possession of spiritual
discernment, he reverently bends his head

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 59

and passes through the second Gateway
toward his final peace.

Clothing his soul with the colorless
Garment of Humility, he bends all his en-
ergies to the uprooting of opinions hitherto
loved and cherished. He learns to distin-
guish between Truth, one and unchange-
able, and his own and others' opinions
about Truth, which are many and change-
able. He sees that his opinions about
Goodness, Purity, Compassion, and Love
are quite distinct from those qualities them-
selves, and that he must stand upon those
divine Principles, and not upon his opinions.
Hitherto he has regarded his own opinions
as of great value and the opinions of others
as worthless, but now he ceases so to elevate
his own opinions and to defend them against
those of others, coming to regard them
as worthless. As a direct result of this
attitude of mind, he takes refuge in the
practice of pure Goodness, unalloyed with
base desire and subtle self-love, and takes
his stand upon the divine Principles of
Purity, Wisdom, Compassion, and Love,

60 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

incorporating them into his mind, and
manifesting them in his life. He is now
clothed with the Righteousness of Christ
— which is incomprehensible to the world —
and is rapidly becoming divine. He has
not only realized the darkness of desire; he
has also perceived the vanity of speculative
philosophy, and so he rids his mind of all
the metaphysical subtleties that have
no relation to practical holiness, have
hitherto encumbered his progress, and pre-
vented him from seeing the enduring
realities in life.

He casts from him his opinions and
speculations one after another, and begins
to live the life of perfect love toward
all. With each opinion overcome and
abandoned as a burden, there is an in-
creased lightness of spirit, and he begins
to realise the meaning of being free.
The divine flowers of Gladness, Joy,
and Peace spring up spontaneously in his
heart, and his life becomes a blissful song.
As the melody in his heart expands and
grows more and more nearly perfect, his

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 61

outward life harmonizes itself with the
inward music. All the efforts he put forth
being now free from strife, he obtains all
that is necessary for his well-being, without
pain, anxiety, or fear. He has almost
entirely transcended the competitive laws,
and the Law of Love is now the governing
factor in his life, adjusting all his worldly
affairs harmoniously, and without struggle
or difficulty on his part. Indeed, the com-
petitive laws, as they obtain in the com-
mercial world, have here been long left
behind, and have ceased to touch him at
any point in his material affairs. Here,
also, he enters into a wider and more
comprehensive consciousness, and, viewing
the universe and humanity from the higher
altitudes of purity and knowledge to which
he has ascended, perceives the orderly
sequence of law in all human affairs. The
pursuit of this Path brings about the
development of still higher powers of mind,
and these powers are divine patience, spir-
itual equanimity, non-resistance, and pro-
phetic insight. By prophetic insight^ is

62 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

not meant the foretelling or" emhh but
direct perception of the hidden causes

mat operate in human life and. indeed.
m ail lire, out of which spring multi-
ranous arm universal e meets ano events.

The .v^n mere rises aoove me competitive
laws as thev operate in me thcuimt- world.

: I":: "'''■'■"'■ ,'" 5r;-7' r; -*"''----'-*::";. arm merrm;
and anxiety in all their forms, no more

litem in his life. As he priieeis. the
imperishable Principles ma: firm the
foundation and fabric of the universe loom
before him, and assume proportions more

and more symmetrical Fir him there is
ni more anguish; no evil can come near
his dwelling; and there breaks up in him
the zawrim^ ir me a Dicing re ace.

He is not yet free. He has not yet
finished his journey. He may rest here,
and that as long as he chooses; but sioner
or later he will reuse himsel: ti me .est

life. He is not vet free from self. : ut still

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 63

clings, though with less tenacity, to the love
of personal existence, and to the idea of
exclusive interest in his personal possessions.
When he at last realizes that these
selfish elements must also be abandoned,
there appears before him the third Gate:
the Gateway of Surrender of Self. It is
no dark portal that he now approaches,
but one luminous with divine glory, one
radiant with a radiance with which no
earthly splendor can vie; and he advances
toward it with no uncertain step. The
clouds of Doubt have long been dispersed;
the sounds of the voices of Temptation are
lost in the valley below; and with firm gait,
erect carriage, and a heart filled with
unspeakable joy, he nears the Gate that
guards the Kingdom of God. He has now
given up all but self-interest in the things
that are his by legal right, but he now
perceives that he must hold nothing as his
own; and as he pauses at the Gate, he hears
the command which cannot be evaded or
denied, "Yet lackest thou one thing; sell
all that thou hast, and distribute unto the

E.K.-5]

64 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
Heaven." Passing through the last great
Gate, he stands glorious, radiant, free,
detached from the tyranny of desire, of
opinion, of self; a divine man, harmless,
patient, tender, pure; he has found that for
which he has been searching: the Kingdom
of God and His Righteousness.

The journey to the Kingdom may be a
long and tedious one, or it may be short and
rapid. It may occupy a minute, or it may
take ages. Everything depends upon the
faith and belief of the searcher. The
majority cannot "enter in because of their
unbelief;" for how can men realize right-
eousness when they do not believe in it nor
in the possibility of its accomplishment ?
Neither is it necessary to leave the outer
world, and one's duties therein. Nay, it
can only be found through the unselfish
performance of one's duty. Some there
are whose faith is so great that, when this
truth is presented to them, they can let
all personal elements drop out of their
minds almost immediately, and enter

THE FINDING OF A PRINCIPLE 65

into their divine heritage. But all who
believe and aspire to achieve will sooner or
later arrive at victory if, amid all their
worldly duties, they faint not, keep sight
of the Ideal Goodness, and continue, with
unshaken resolve, to "press on to Per-
fection."

AT REST IN THE KINGDOM AND
ALL THINGS ADDED

My life is glad —

Nowise forgetting yet those other lives

Painful and poor, wicked and miserable,

Whereon the gods grant pity! — Sir Edwin Arnold.

/"T"SHE whole journey from the Kingdom of
* Strife to the Kingdom of Love resolves
itself into a process that may be summed
up in the following words: The regulation
and purification of conduct. Such a process
must, if assiduously pursued, necessarily
lead to perfection. It will also be seen that
as the man obtains mastery over certain
forces within himself, he arrives at a knowl-
edge of all the laws operating in the
realm of those forces, and by watching the
ceaseless working of cause and effect within
himself until he understands them, he there-
upon understands them in their universal ad-
justments in the body of humanity. More-
over, seeing that all laws governing human

68 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

affairs are the direct outcome of the neces-
sities of the human heart, and having re-
formed and transmuted those necessities,
he has brought himself under the guidance
of other laws operative in accordance
with his altered condition; and having
mastered and overcome the selfish forces
within himself, he can no longer be subject
to the laws which exist for their governance.

The process is also one of simplification
of the mind, a sifting away of all but the
essential gold in character. As the
mind is thus simplified, the apparently
unfathomable complexity of the universe
assumes simpler and simpler aspects, until
the whole is seen to resolve itself into, and
to rest upon, a few unalterable Principles;
and these Principles are ultimately seen
to be contained in one, namely, Love.

The mind thus simplified, the man arrives
at peace, and now really begins to live.
Looking back on the personal life he
has for ever abandoned, he sees it as a
nightmare from which he has awakened;
but looking out and down with the

AT REST IN THE KINGDOM 69

eyes of the spirit, he sees that others
continue to live it. He sees men and
women struggling, fighting, suffering, and
perishing for what is abundantly given
them by the bountiful hand of the
Father, if they would only cease from all
covetousness and take it without hurt or
hindrance; and compassion fills his heart,
and also gladness, for he knows that human-
ity will wake at last from its long and painful
dream. In the early part of his journey he
seemed to be leaving humanity far behind,
and he sorrowed in his loneliness.
Now, having reached the highest, having
attained the goal, he finds himself nearer
to humanity than ever before — yea, living
in its very heart, sympathizing with all its
sorrows, rejoicing in all its joys; having
no longer any personal considerations to
defend, he lives entirely in the heart of
humanity. He lives no longer for himself;
he lives for others: and so living, he enjoys
the highest bliss, the deepest peace. For a
time he searched for Compassion, Love,
Bliss, Truth; but now he has verily become

70 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

Compassion, Love, Bliss, Truth; and it
may literally he said of him that he has
ceased to be a personality, for all the per-
sonal elements have been extinguished, and
there remain only qualities and prin-
ciples entirely impersonal. Those qualities
are now manifested in the man's life, are
henceforth the mans character.

Having ceased from the protection of
self, and living constantly in compassion,
wisdom, and love, he comes under the
protection of the highest Law, the Law of
Love; he understands that Law, and
consciously co-operates with it; yea, is
himself inseparately identified with the Law.

"Foregoing self, the universe grows I";

and he whose nature is compassion, wisdom,
and love cannot possibly need any pro-
tection; for those Principles themselves con-
stitute the highest protection, being the real,
the divine, the immortal in all men, and
constituting the indestructible reality in the
cosmic order. Neither does he whose very
nature is Bliss, Joy, Peace need to seek
enjoyment. As for competing with others,

AT REST IN THE KINGDOM 71

with whom should he compete who has lov-
ingly identified himself with all ? With whom
should he struggle who has sacrificed him-
self for all ? Whose blind, misguided, and
ineffectual competition should he fear who
has reached the source of all blessedness,
and who receives at the hands of the Father
all necessary things ? Having lost his sel-
fish personality, he has found his divine
nature, Love; and Love and all the effects
of Love now compose his life. He can now
joyfully exclaim:

"I have made the acquaintance of the Master of Compas-
sion;
I have put on the Garment of the Perfect Law;
I have entered the realm of the Great Reality;
Wandering is ended, for Rest is accomplished;
Pain and sorrow have ceased, for Peace is entered into;
Confusion is dissolved, for Unity is made manifest;
Error is vanquished, for Truth is revealed!"

The harmonizing Principle, Righteousness,
or Divine Love, being found, all things are
seen as they are, and not through the illusory
mediums of selfishness and opinion; the
universe is One, and all its manifold opera-
tions are the manifestation of one Law.
Hitherto in this work laws have been spoken

72 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

of as being higher and lower, and this
distinction was necessary; but now the
Kingdom is reached, we see that all
the forces operative in human life are
the varied manifestations of the One
Supreme Law of Love. It is by virtue of
this Law that Humanity suffers, in order that
by the intensity of its sufferings it shall at last
become purified and wise, and so relinquish
the source of suffering, which is selfishness.

The Law and foundation of the universe
being Love, it follows that all self-seeking
is opposed to that Law, and is an effort to
overcome or ignore the Law; as a result,
every self-seeking act and thought is followed
by the exact quota of suffering required
to annul its effect and so maintain the
universal harmony. All suffering is, there-
fore, the restraint that the Law puts upon
ignorance and selfishness: out of such
painful restraint Wisdom at last emerges.

There being no strife and no selfishness
in the Kingdom, there is therefore no
suffering, no restraint; there is perfect har-
mony, equipoise, rest. Those who have

AT REST IN THE KINGDOM 73

entered it do not follow any animal inclina-
tions, having none to follow, but live in
accordance with the highest Wisdom. Their
nature is Love, and they live in love toward
all. They are never troubled about "mak-
ing a living," as they are Life itself, living
in the very Heart of Life; and should any
material or other need arise, that need is
immediately supplied without any anxiety
or struggle on their part. Should they be
called to undertake any work, the money
and friends needed to carry out that work
are immediately forthcoming. Having ceased
to violate their principles, all their needs
are supplied through legitimate channels.
Any money or help required comes through
the instrumentality of good people who are
either living in the Kingdom themselves,
or are working for its accomplishment.
Those who live in the Kingdom of Love
have all their needs supplied by the Law
of Love, with all freedom from unrest, just
as those who live in the kingdom of self
only meet their needs by much strife and
suffering. Having altered the root cause

74 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

in their heart they have altered all the
effects in their inner and outer life. As
self is the root cause of all strife and
suffering, so Love is the root cause of all
peace and bliss.

Those who are at rest in the Kingdom
do not look for happiness to any outward
possessions. They see that all such posses-
sions are mere transient effects that come
when they are required and pass away
after their purpose is served. They never
think of such things as money, clothing, food,
and the like, except as mere accessories and
effects of the true Life. They are therefore
freed from all anxiety and trouble; resting
in Love, they are the embodiment of happi-
ness. Standing upon the imperishable Prin-
ciples of Purity, Compassion, Wisdom, and
Love, they are immortal and know they are
immortal; they are one with God, the
Supreme Good, and know they are one
with God. Seeing the realities of things,
they can find no room anywhere for con-
demnation. All the operations that obtain
upon the earth they see as instruments of

AT REST IN THE KINGDOM 75

the Good Law, even those called evil. All
men are essentially divine, though unaware
of their divine nature, and all their acts are
efforts, even though many of them are dark
and impotent, to realize some higher good.
All so-called evil is seen to be rooted in
ignorance, even the deeds called deliberately
wicked, so that condemnation ceases, and
Love and Compassion become all in all.

But let it not be supposed that the chil-
dren of the Kingdom live in ease and indo-
lence, for these two sins are the first that
have to be eradicated when the search for
the Kingdom is entered upon; they live in
a peaceful activity; in fact, they only truly
live, for the life of self with its train of
worries, griefs, and fears, is not real life.
They do their work with scrupulous dili-
gence, apart from thoughts of self, and em-
ploy all their means, as well as their powers
and faculties, which are greatly intensified,
in building up the Kingdom of Righteous-
ness in the hearts of others and in the
world around them. This is their work —
first by example, then by precept. Hav-

76 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

ing sold all that they have by renouncing
all self-interest in their possesions, they now
give to the poor by giving of their rich store
of wisdom, love, and peace to the needy in
spirit, the weary and broken-hearted, and
follow the Christ whose name is Love.
They sorrow no more, but live in per-
petual gladness; for, though they see the
suffering in the world, they also see the
final Bliss and the Eternal Refuge of Love,
to which whosoever is ready may come now,
and to which all shall come at last.

The children of the Kingdom are known
by their life. They manifest the fruits of
the Spirit: 'love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,
temperance, self-control,' ' in all circum-
stances and vicissitudes. They are entirely
free from anger, fear, suspicion, jealousy,
caprice, anxiety, and grief. Living in the
Righteousness of God, they manifest qualities
the reverse of those obtaining in the world,
which are regarded by the world as foolish-
ness. They demand no rights; they do
not defend themselves; do not retaliate;

AT REST IN THE KINGDOM 77

do good to those who attempt to injure
them; manifest the same gentle spirit
toward those who oppose and attack
them as toward those who agree with
them; do not pass judgment on others;
condemn no man and no system; and live
at peace with all.

The Kingdom of Heaven is perfect trust,
perfect knowledge, perfect peace. All is
music, sweetness, and tranquillity. No irri-
tations, no bad tempers, no harsh words,
no suspicions, no lusts, and no disturbing
elements can enter there. Its children live
in perfect sweetness, forgiving and forgiven,
ministering to others with kindly thoughts,
words, and deeds. That Kingdom is
in the heart of every man and woman; it is
their rightful heritage, their own Kingdom;
theirs to enter now. But no sin can enter
therein; no self-born thought or deed can
pass its Golden Gates; no impure desire
can defile its radiant robes. All may enter
it who will, but all must pay the price, and
that is the unconditional abandonment of
self. "If thou wilt be perfect, sell all that

78 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

thou hast;" but at these words the world
turns away "sorrowful, for it is very rich;,,
rich in money it cannot keep; rich
in fears it cannot let go; rich in sel-
fish loves to which it greedily clings;
rich in grievous partings it would fain
escape; rich in seeking enjoyment; rich
in pain and sorrow; rich in strife and
suffering; rich in excitement and woe; rich
in all things which are not riches, but poor
in riches themselves — though these are not
to be found outside the Kingdom; rich in all
things that pertain to darkness and death;
but poor in the things are Light and Life.

He, then, who would realize the Kingdom,
let him pay the price and enter. If he
have a great and holy faith he can do it
now, and, letting fall from him like a gar-
ment the self to which he has been clinging,
stand free. If he have less faith, he must
rise above self more slowly, and find the
Kingdom by daily effort and patient work.

The Temple of Righteousness is now built,
and its four walls are the four Principles
of Purity, Wisdom, Compassion, Love. Peace

AT REST IN THE KINGDOM 79

is its roof, its floor is Steadfastness, its
entrance-door is Selfless Duty, its atmos-
phere is Inspiration, and its music is the
Joy of the perfect. It cannot be shaken;
being eternal and indestructible, there
is no more need to seek protection by taking
thought for the things of the morrow.
The Kingdom of Heaven being established
in the heart, the obtaining of the material
necessities of life is no more considered, for,
having found the Highest, all these things
are added as effect to cause; the struggle
for existence has ceased, and the spiritual,
mental, and material needs are daily sup-
plied from the universal abundance:

Long I sought thee, Spirit holy,

Master Spirit, meek and lowly;
Sought thee with a silent sorrow, brooding o'er the woes
of men;

Vainly sought thy yoke of meekness

'Neath the weight of woe and weakness;
Finding not, yet in my failing, seeking o'er and o'er again.

In unrest and doubt and sadness

Dwelt I, yet I knew thy Gladness
Waited somewhere; somewhere greeted torn and sorrowing
hearts like mine;

Knew that somehow I should find thee,

Leaving sin and woe behind me,

And at last thy Love should bid me enter into Rest divine .
E.K -6]

80 ENTERING THE KINGDOM

Hatred, mockery, and reviling

Scorched my seeking soul, defiling
That which should have been thy Temple, wherein thou
shouldst move and dwell;

Praying, striving, hoping, calling;

Suffering, sorrowing in my falling,
Still I sought thee, groping blindly in the gloomy depths of

hell.

And I sought thee till I found thee;

And the dark Powers all around me
Fled, and left me silent, peaceful, brooding o'er thy holy
themes;

From within me and without me

Fled they when I ceased to doubt thee;
And I found thee in thy Glory, mighty Master of my dreams !

Yea, I found thee, Spirit holy,
Beautiful and pure and lowly;
Found thy Joy and Peace and Gladness; found thee in
thy House of Rest;
Found thy strength in Love and Meekness,
And my pain and woe and weakness
Left me, and I walked the Pathway trodden only by the
blest.

PART II

THE HEAVENLY LIFE

THE DIVINE CENTRE

The secret of life, of abundant life, with
its strength, its felicity, and its unbroken
peace, is to find the Divine Centre within
oneself and to live in and from that, instead
of in that outer circumference of disturb-
ances— the clamors, cravings, and argu-
mentations that make up the animal and
intellectual man. These selfish elements
constitute the mere husks of life, and must
be thrown away by him who would penetrate
to the Central Heart of things — to Life
itself.

Not to know that within you which is
changeless and defiant of time and death,
is not to know anything, but to play vainly
with unsubstantial reflections in the Mirror
of Time. Not to find within you the
passionless Principles that are unmoved
by the strifes and shows and vanities of the
world, is to find nothing but illusions that
vanish as they are grasped.

84 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

He who resolves that he will not rest
satisfied with appearances, shadows, illu-
sions shall, by the piercing light of that
resolve, disperse every fleeting phantasy, and
shall enter into the substance and reality
of life. He shall learn how to live, and he
shall live. He shall be the slave of no
passion, the servant of no opinion, the
votary of no fond error. Finding the
Divine Centre within (his own heart) he will
be pure and calm and strong and wise, and
ceaselessly radiate the Heavenly Life in
which he lives — which is himself — His
Divine Self.

Having betaken himself to the Divine
Refuge within, and remaining there, a man
is free. All his yesterdays are the tide-
washed and untrodden sands; no sin
shall rise up against him to torment and
accuse him and destroy his sacred peace;
the fires of remorse cannot scorch him, nor
can the storms of regret devastate his dwell-
ing-place. His to-morrows are as seeds that
shall germinate, bursting into beauty and
potency of life, and no doubt shall shake

THE DIVINE CENTRE 85

his trust, no uncertainty rob him of repose.
The Present is his, only in the immortal
Present does he live, and it is as the eternal
vault of blue above that looks down
silently and calmly, yet radiant with purity
and light, upon the upturned and tear-
stained faces of the centuries.

Men love their desires, for gratification
seems sweet to them, but its end is pain
and vacuity; they love the argumentations
of the intellect, for egotism seems most
desirable to them, but the fruits thereof are
humiliation and sorrow. When the soul
has reached the end of gratification and
reaped the bitter fruits of egotism, it is
ready to receive the Divine Wisdom and
to enter into the Divine Life. Only the
crucified can be transfigured; only by the
passing away of self can the Lord of the heart
rise again into the Immortal Life, and stand
radiant upon the Olivet of Wisdom.

Thou hast thy trials ? Every outward
trial is the replica of an inward imper-
fection. Thou shalt grow wise by knowing
this, and shalt thereby transmute trial

86 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

into active joy, finding the Kingdom where
trial cannot come. When wilt thou learn
thy lessons, O child of earth! All thy sor-
rows cry out against thee; every pain is
thy just accuser, and thy griefs are but the
shadows of thy unworthy and perishable
self. The Kingdom of Heaven is thine;
how long wilt thou reject it, preferring the
lurid atmosphere of hell — the hell of thy
self-seeking self?

Where self is not there is the Garden of
the Heavenly Life, and

"There spring the healing streams

Quenching all thirst I there bloom the immortal flowers
Carpeting all the way with joy! there throng
Swiftest and sweetest hours!"

The redeemed sons of God, the glorified in
body and spirit, are bought with a price,
and that price is the crucifixion of the per-
sonality, the death of self; having put
away that within which is the source of all
discord, they have found the universal
Music, the abiding Joy.

Life is more than motion, it is music;
more than rest, it is Peace; more than
work, it is Duty; more than labor, it is

THE DIVINE CENTRE 87

Love; more than enjoyment, it is Blessed-
ness; more than acquiring money and posi-
tion and reputation, it is Knowledge, Pur-
pose,*strong and high Resolve.

Let the impure turn to Purity, and they
shall be pure; let the weak resort to Strength,
andthey shall be strong; let the ignorant fly
to Knowledge, and they shall be wise. All
things are man's, and he chooses what
he will have. To-day he chooses in igno-
rance, to-morrow he shall choose in Wis-
dom. I He shall work out his own salvation
whether he believe it or not, for he cannot
escape himself nor transfer to another
the eternal responsibility of his own soul.
By no theological subterfuge may he trick
the Law of his being, which shall shatter
all his selfish makeshifts and excuses for
right thinking and right doing. Nor shall
God do for him what it is desired his
soul shall accomplish for itself. What would
you say of a man who, wanting to possess
a mansion in which to dwell peacefully,
purchased the site and then knelt down
and asked God to build the house for him ?

88 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

Would you not say that such a man was
foolish ? And of another man, who having
purchased the land, set the architects and
builders and carpenters at work to erect the
edifice, would you not say that he was
wise ? As it is in the building of a
material house, even so is it in the building
of a spiritual mansion. Brick by brick,
pure thought upon pure thought, good
deed upon good deed, must the habitation
of a blameless life rise from its sure founda-
tion until at last it stands out in all the
majesty of its faultless proportions. Not
by caprice, nor gift, nor favor does a man
obtain the spiritual realities, but by diligence,
watchfulness, energy, and effort.

"Strong is the soul, and wise and beautiful;
The seeds of God-like power are in us still;
Gods are we, bards, saints, heroes, if we will."

The Spiritual Heart of man is the Heart
of the universe; finding that Heart, man
finds strength to accomplish all things.
He finds there Wisdom to see things as
they are. He finds there the Peace that
is divine. At the centre of man's being is

THE DIVINE CENTRE 89

the Music that orders the stars — the Eternal
Harmony. He who would find Blessedness,
let him find himself; let him abandon
every discordant desire, every inharmonious
thought, every unlovely habit and deed, and
he will find the Grace and Beauty and
Harmony that form the indestructible
essence of his own being.

Men fly from creed to creed, and find —
unrest; they travel in many lands, and
discover — disappointment; they build them-
selves beautiful mansions and plant pleasant
gardens, and reap — ennui and discomfort.
Not until a man falls back upon the Truth
within himself does he find rest and satis-
faction; not until he builds the inward
Mansion of Faultless Conduct does he
find the endless and incorruptible Joy;
having obtained that, he will infuse it into
all his outward doings and possessions.

If a man would have peace, let him
exercise the spirit of Peace; if he would find
love, let him dwell in the spirit of Love;
if he would escape suffering, let him cease
to inflict it; if he would do noble things for

90 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

humanity, let him cease to do ignoble things
for himself. If he will but quarry the
mine of his own soul, he shall find there
all the materials for building whatsoever he
will, and he shall find there also the central
Rock on which to build in safety.

Howsoever a man works to right the
world, it will never be righted until he has
put himself right. This may be written
upon the heart as a mathematical axiom.
It is not enough to preach Purity, men must
cease from lust; to exhort to love, they must
abandon hatred; to extol self-sacrifice, they
must yield up self; to adorn with mere
words the Perfect Life, they must be perfect.

When a man can no longer carry the
weight of his many sins, let him fly to the
Christ, whose throne is the centre of his
own being; and he shall become light-hearted,
entering the glad company of the im-
mortals.

When he can no longer bear the burden of
his accumulated learning, let a man leave his
books, his science, his philosophy, and come
back to himself; and he shall find within,

THE DIVINE CENTRE 91

what he outwardly sought and found not—
his own divinity.

He ceases to argue about God who has
found God within. Relying upon the calm
strength that is not the strength of self,
he lives God, manifesting in his daily life
the Highest Goodness, which is Eternal
Life.

THE ETERNAL NOW

XjOW is the reality in which time is con-
-*• ^ tained. It is more and greater than time;
it is an ever-present reality. It knows
neither past nor future, and is eternally
potent and substantial. Every minute, every
day, every year is a dream as soon as it
has passed, to exist only as an imperfect
and unsubstantial picture in the memory,
or be held in complete abeyance.

Past and future are dreams; now is a
reality. All things are now; all power, all
possibility, all action is now. Not to act
and accomplish now is not to act and
accomplish at all. To live in thoughts of
what you might have done, or in dreams of
what you mean to do, this is folly; but to
put away regret, to anchor anticipation, and
to do and to work now, this is wisdom.

While a man is dwelling upon the past
or future he is missing the present; he is
forgetting to live now. All things are pos-

94 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

sible now, and only now. Without wisdom
to guide him, mistaking the unreal for
the real, a man says, "If I had done so and
so last week, last month, or last year, it
would have been better with me to-day";
or, "I know what is best to be done, and I
will do it to-morrow." The selfish cannot
comprehend the vast importance and value
of the present, and fail to see it as the sub-
stantial reality of which past and future
are the empty reflections. It may truly be
said that past and future do not exist except
as negative shadows, and to live in them
— that is, in regretful and selfish con-
templation or expectation of them — is to miss
the reality in life.

"The Present, the Present is all thou hast
For thy sure possessing;
Like the patriarch's angel, hold it fast,
Till it gives its blessing. . . .
"All which is real now remaineth,
And fadeth never;
The hand which upholds it now sustaineth

The soul for ever. . . .
"Then of what is to be, and of what is done.

Why queriest thou?
The past and the time to be are one,
And both are NOW!"

THE ETERNAL NOW 95

Man has all power now; but not knowing
this, he says, "I will be perfect next year,
or in so many years." The dwellers in
the Kingdom of God, who live only in the
now, say, "I am perfect now"; refraining
from all sin now, and ceaselessly guarding
the portals of the mind, not looking to the
past nor to the future, not turning to the
left nor right, they remain eternally holy and
blessed. "Now is the accepted time; now
is the day of salvation."

Say to yourself, "I will live in my Ideal
now; I will manifest my Ideal now; I will
be my Ideal now; I will listen to the voice
of my Ideal now." Thus resolving, and
thus doing, you shall remain in the Highest,
and shall eternally manifest the True.

"Afoot and lighthearted, I take to the open road.
Henceforth I ask not good fortune: I myself am

good fortune.
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more,

need nothing;
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous

criticisms.
Strong and content, I take to the open road."

Cease to tread every byway of depend-
ence, every winding side-path that tempts

E.K.-7]

96 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

thy soul into the shadow-land of the past
and the future; and manifest thy native
and divine strength now. Come out into
the open road.

All that you would be and hope to
be, you may be now. Non-accomplishment
resides in your perpetual postponement;
having the power to postpone, you also
have the power to accomplish — to perpetually
accomplish; realize this truth, and you shall
be to-day, and every day, the ideal man of
whom you dreamed.

Virtue consists in overcoming sin day after
day, but holiness consists in leaving sin,
unnoticed and ignored, to die by the way-
side; and this is done, can only be done,
in the living now. Say not unto thy soul,
"Thou shalt be purer to-morrow"; but
rather say, "Thou shalt be pure now."
To-morrow is too late for anything, and
he who sees his help and salvation in to-
morrow shall continually fail and fall to-day.

Thou didst fall yesterday ? Didst sin
grievously ? Having realized this, leave it
instantly and for ever, and watch that thou

THE ETERNAL NOW 97

sinnest not now. The while thou art bewail-
ing the past every gate of thy soul remaineth
unguarded against the entrance of sin now.
Thou shalt not rise by grieving over the irre-
mediable past, but by remedying the present.

The foolish man, loving the boggy side-
path of procrastination rather than the
firm Highway of Present Effort, says, "I
will rise early to-morrow; I will get out of
debt to-morrow; I will carry out my inten-
tions to-morrow." But the wise man,
realizing the momentous import of the
Eternal Now, rises early to-day; keeps out
of debt to-day; carries out his intentions
to-day; and so never departs from strength
and peace and ripe accomplishment.

What is done now remains; what is to
be done to-morrow does not appear. It
is wisdom to leave what has not arrived,
and to attend to what is; and to attend to
it with such consecration of soul and
concentration of effort as shall leave no
possible loophole for regret to creep in.

A man's spiritual comprehension being
clouded by the illusions of self, he says,

98 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

"I was born on such a day, so many years
ago, and shall die at my allotted time."
But he was not born, neither will he die,
for how can that which is immortal, which
eternally is, be subject to birth and death ?
Let a man throw off his illusions, and then
he will see that the birth and death of the
body are the mere incidents of a journey,
and not its beginning and end: "Our birth is
but a sleep and a forgetting."

Looking back to happy beginnings, and
forward to mournful endings, a man's eyes
are blinded so that he beholds not his own
immortality; his ears are closed so that he
hears not the ever-present harmonies of Joy;
and his heart is hardened so that it pulsates
not to the rhythmic sounds of Peace.

The universe, with all that it contains, is
now. Put out thy hand, O man, and receive
the fruits of Wisdom! Cease from thy greedy
striving, thy selfish sorrowing, thy foolish re-
gretting, and be content to live. Act now,
and, lo! all things are done; live now, and,
behold! thou art in the midst of Plenty; be
now, and know that thou art perfect.

THE "ORIGINAL SIMPLICITY"

IFE is simple. Being is simple. The
-^ universe is simple. Complexity arises in
ignorance and self-delusion. The "Original
Simplicity" of Lao-tze is a term expressive
of the universe as it is, and not as it appears.
Looking through the woven network of his
own illusions, man sees interminable com-
plication and unfathomable mystery, and
so loses himself in the labyrinths of his
own making. Let a man put away egotism,
and he will see the universe in all the beauty
of its pristine simplicity. Let him annihilate
the delusion of the personal "I," and he
will destroy all the illusions which spring
from that "I." He will thus "re-become
a little child," and will "revert to Original
Simplicity."

When a man succeeds in entirely forgetting
and annihilating his personal self, he be-
comes a mirror in which the universal Reality
is faultlessly reflected. He is awakened,

100 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

and henceforward he lives, not in dreams,
but realities.

Pythagoras saw the universe in the ten
numbers, but even this simplicity may be
further reduced and the universe ultimately
found to be contained in the number
ONE, for all the numerals and all their
infinite complications are but additions of
the One.

Let life cease to be lived as a fragmentary
thing, and let it be lived as a perfect Whole;
the simplicity of the Perfect will then be
revealed. How shall the fragment com-
prehend the Whole ? Yet how simple that
the Whole should comprehend the frag-
ment. How shall sin perceive Holiness ? Yet
how plain that Holiness should understand
sin. He who would become the Greater,
let him abandon the lesser. In no form
is the circle contained, but in the circle all
forms are contained. In no color is the
radiant light imprisoned, but in the radiant
light all colors are embodied. Let a man
destroy all the forms of self, and he shall
apprehend the Circle of Perfection; let him

THE "ORIGINAL SIMPLICITY" 101

submerge, in the silent depths of his being,
the varying colors of his thoughts and
desires, and he shall be illuminated with
the White Light of Divine Knowledge.
In the perfect chord of music the single
note, though forgotten, is indispensably
contained; and the drop of water becomes
of supreme usefulness by losing itself in the
ocean. Sink thyself compassionately in the
heart of humanity, and thou shalt reproduce
the harmonies of Heaven; lose thyself in
unlimited love toward all, and thou shalt
work enduring works and shalt become
one with the Eternal Ocean of Bliss.

Man evolves outward to the periphery
of complexity, and then involves backward
to the Central Simplicity. When a man
discovers that it is mathematically impos-
sible for him to know the universe be-
fore knowing himself, he starts upon
the Way which leads to the Original
Simplicity. He begins to unfold from
within, and as he unfolds himself, he
enfolds the universe, is himself a micro-
cosm.

102 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

Cease to speculate about God, and find
the all-embracing Good within thee; so
shalt thou see the emptiness and vanity of
speculation, knowing thyself one with God.

He who will not give up his secret lust,
his covetousness, his anger, his opinion
about this or that, can see nor know nothing;
he will remain a dullard in the school of
Wisdom, though he be accounted learned
in the colleges.

If a man would find the Key of Knowl-
edge, let him find himself. Thy sins are
not thyself; they are not any part of thyself;
they are diseases which thou hast come to
love. Cease to cling to them, and they will
no longer cling to thee. Let them fall
away, and thy self shall stand revealed.
Thou shalt then know thyself as Compre-
hensive Vision, Invincible Principle, Im-
mortal Life, and Eternal Good.

The impure man believes impurity to be
his rightful condition, but the pure man
knows himself as pure being; he also,
penetrating the Veils, sees all others as
pure being. Purity is extremely simple,

THE "ORIGINAL SIMPLICITY" 103

and needs no argument to support it; im-
purity is interminably complex, and is ever
involved in defensive argument. Truth lives
itself. A blameless life is the only witness
of Truth. Men cannot see, and will not
accept the witness until they find it within
themselves; having found it, a man be-
comes silent before his fellows. Truth is
so simple that it cannot be found in the
region of argument and advertisement, and
so silent that it is only manifested in actions.

So extremely simple is Original Simplicity,
that a man must let go his hold of everything
before he can perceive it. The great arch
is strong by virtue of the hollowness under-
neath, and a wise man becomes strong
and invincible by emptying himself.

Meekness, Patience, Love, Compassion,
and Wisdom — these are the dominant qual-
ities of Original Simplicity; wherefore the
imperfect cannot understand it. Wisdom
only can apprehend Wisdom, wherefore the
fool says, "No man is wise." The imperfect
man says, "No man can be perfect," and
wherefore he remains where he is. Though

104 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

he live with a perfect man all his life, he
shall not behold his perfection. Meekness
he will call cowardice; Patience, Love,
and Compassion he will see as weakness;
and Wisdom will appear to him as folly.
Faultless discrimination belongs to the Per-
fect Whole, and resides not in any part,
wherefore men are exhorted to refrain from
judgment until they have themselves mani-
fested the Perfect Life.

Arriving at Original Simplicity, opacity
disappears, and the universal transparency
becomes apparent. He who has found the
indwelling Reality of his own being has
found the original and universal Reality.
Knowing the Divine Life within, the hearts of
all are known, and the thoughts of all men
become his who has become the master of
his own thoughts; wherefore the good man
does not defend himself, but moulds the
minds of others to his own likeness.

As the problematical transcends crudity,
so Pure Goodness transcends the prob-
lematical. All problems vanish when Pure
Goodness is reached; therefore the good

THE "ORIGINAL SIMPLICITY" 105

man is called "the slayer of illusions. "
What problem can vex where sin is not ?
O thou who strivest loudly and restest not!
retire into the holy silence of thine own
being, and live therefrom. So shalt thou,
finding Pure Goodness, rend in twain the
Veil of the Temple of Illusion, and shalt
enter into the Patience, Peace, and tran-
scendent Glory of the Perfect; for Pure
Goodness and Original Simplicity are one.

V.

THE UNVEILING WISDOM

A MAN should be superior to his possess-
* ** ions, his body, his circumstances and
surroundings, and the opinions of others
and their attitude toward him. Until he
is all these, he is not strong and steadfast.
He should also rise superior to his own
desires and opinions; and until he is this,
he is not wise.

The man who identifies himself with his
possessions will feel that all is lost when
these are lost; he who regards himself as
the outcome and the tool of circumstances
will weakly fluctuate with every change in
his outward condition; and great will be
his unrest and pain who seeks to stand
upon the approbation of others.

To detach oneself from every outward
thing, and to rest securely upon the inward
Virtue, this is the Unfailing Wisdom. Hav-
ing this Wisdom, a man will be the same
whether in riches or in poverty. The one can-

108 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

not add to his strength, nor the other rob
him of his serenity. Neither can riches
defile him who has washed away all the
inward defilement, nor the lack of them
degrade him who has ceased to degrade
the temple of his soul.

To refuse to be enslaved by any outward
thing or happening, regarding all such
things and happenings as for your use, for
your education, this is Wisdom. To the
wise all occurrences are good, and, having
no eye for evil, they grow wiser every day.
They utilize all things, and thus put all
things under their feet. They see all their
mistakes as soon as made, and accept them
as lessons of intrinsic value, knowing that
there are no mistakes in the Divine Order.
They thus rapidly approach the Divine
Perfection. They are moved by none, yet
learn from all. They crave love from none,
yet give love to all. To learn, and not to
be shaken; to love where one is not loved;
herein lies the strength that shall never
fail a man. The man who says in his heart,
"I will teach all men, and learn from none,"

THE UNFAILING WISDOM 109

will neither teach nor learn while in
that frame of mind, but will remain in his
folly.

All strength and wisdom and power and
knowledge a man will find within himself,
but he will not find it in egotism; he will
find it only in obedience, submission, and
willingness to learn. He must obey the
Higher, and not glorify himself in the
lower. He who stands upon egotism, reject-
ing reproof, instruction, and the lessons of
experience, will surely fall; yea, he is already
fallen. Said a great Teacher to his disciples:
"Those who shall be a lamp unto themselves,
relying upon themselves only, and not
relying upon any external help, but holding
fast to the Truth as their lamp, and, seeking
their salvation in the Truth alone, shall not
look for assistance to any besides themselves,
it is they among my disciples who shall
reach the very topmost height! But they
must be willing to learn" The wise man
is always anxious to learn but never anxious
to teach, for he knows that the true Teacher
is in the heart of every man and must

110 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

ultimately be found there by all. The
foolish man, being governed largely by
vanity, is anxious to teach but unwill-
ing to learn, not having found the Holy
Teacher within who speaks wisdom to the
humbly listening soul. Be self-reliant, but
let thy self-reliance be saintly and not
selfish.

Folly and wisdom, weakness and strength
are within a man and not in any external
thing, neither do they spring from any
external cause. A man cannot be strong
for another, he can only be strong for him-
self; he cannot overcome for another, he
can only overcome of himself. You may
learn of another, but you must accomplish
for yourself. Put away all external props,
and rely upon the Truth within you. A
creed will not bear a man up in the hour
of temptation; he must possess the inward
Knowledge that slays temptation. A spec-
ulative philosophy will prove a shadowy
thing in the time of calamity; a man must
have the inward Wisdom that puts an
end to grief.

THE UNFAILING WISDOM 111

Goodness, the aim of all religions, is
distinct from the religions themselves. Wis-
dom, the aim of every philosophy, is distinct
from all philosophies. The Unfailing Wis-
dom is found only by constant practice in
pure thinking and well-doing; by harmon-
izing one's mind and heart to the things
that are beautiful, lovable, and true

In whatever condition a man finds himself,
he can always find the True; and he can
find it only by so utilizing his present
condition as to become strong and wise.
The effeminate hankering after rewards,
and the craven fear of punishment, let
them be put away for ever, and let a man
joyfully bend himself to the faithful per-
formance of all his duties, forgetting himself
and his worthless pleasures, and living
strong and pure and self-contained; so
shall he surely find the Unfailing Wisdom,
the God-like Patience and strength. "The
situation that has not its Duty, its Ideal,
was never yet occupied by man. . . .
Here or nowhere is thy Ideal. Work it
out therefrom, and, working, believe, live,

E.K.-8]

112 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

be free. The Ideal is in thyself, the im-
pediment, too, is in thyself; thy condition
is but the stuff thou art to shape that same
Ideal out of. What matters whether such
stuff be of this sort or that, so the form thou
give it be heroic, be poetic ? Oh, thou that
pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual,
and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom
wherein to rule and create, know this of a
truth : The thing thou seekest is already within
thee, here and now, couldst thou only see!"
All that is beautiful and blessed is in
thyself, not in thy neighbor's wealth.
Thou art poor ? Thou art poor indeed
if thou art not stronger than thy poverty!
Thou hast suffered calamities ? Well, shalt
thou cure calamity by adding anxiety to it ?
Canst thou mend a broken vase by weeping
over it, or restore a lost delight by thy
lamentations ? There is no evil but will
vanish if thou wilt wisely meet it. The
God-like soul grieveth not over what has
been, is, or will be, but perpetually findeth
the Divine Good, and gaineth wisdom by
every occurrence.

THE UNFAILING WISDOM 113

Fear is the shadow of selfishness, and
cannot live where loving Wisdom is. Doubt,
anxiety, and worry are unsubstantial shades
in the underworld of self; and shall no
more trouble him who will climb the serene
altitudes of his soul. Grief, also, will be
for ever dispelled by him who will com-
prehend the Law of his being. He who
so comprehends shall find the Supreme
Law of Life, and he shall find that it is
Love, that it is imperishable Love. He
shall become one with that divine Love, and
loving all, with mind freed from all hatred
and folly, he shall receive the invincible
protection that Love affords. Claiming
nothing, he shall suffer no loss; seeking no
pleasure, he shall find no grief; and employ-
ing all his powers as instruments of service,
he shall evermore live in the highest state
of blessedness and bliss.

Know this: Thou makest and unmakest
thyself; thou standest and fallest by what
thou art. Thou art a slave if thou preferrest
to be; thou art a master if thou wilt make
thyself one. Build upon thine animal desires

114 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

and intellectual opinions, and thou buildest
upon the sand; build upon Virtue and
Holiness, and no wind nor tide shall shake
thy strong abode. So shall the Unfailing
Wisdom uphold thee in every emergency,
and the Everlasting Arms gather thee to
thy peace.

"Lay up each year
Thy harvest of well-doing, wealth that kings
Nor thieves can take away. When all the things
Thou callest thine, goods, pleasures, honors fall,
Thou in thy virtue shalt survive them T all."

THE MIGHT OF MEEKNESS

/TTVHE mountain bends not to the fiercest
-*- storm, but it shields the fledgeling and
the lamb; and though all men tread upon it,
yet it protects them, and bears them up
upon its deathless bosom. Even so is it
with the meek man who still, though shaken
and disturbed by none, compassionately
bends to shield the lowliest creature, and,
though he may be despised, lifts all men
up and lovingly protects them.

As glorious as the mountain in its silent
might is the divine man in his silent Meek-
ness; like its form, his loving compassion
is expansive and sublime. Truly his body,
like the mountain's base, is fixed in the
valleys and the mists; but the summit of
his being is eternally bathed in cloudless
glory, and lives with the Silences.

He that has found Meekness has found
divinity; he has realized the divine con-
sciousness, and knows himself as^ divine.

116 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

He also knows all others as divine, though
they know it not themselves, being asleep
and dreaming. Meekness is a divine quality,
and as such is all-powerful. The meek
man overcomes by not resisting, and by
allowing himself to be defeated he attains
to the Supreme Conquest.

The man that conquers another by force
is strong; the man that conquers himself
by Meekness is mighty. He that conquers
another by force will himself likewise be
conquered; he that conquers himself by
Meekness shall never be overthrown, the
human cannot overcome the divine. The
meek man is triumphant in defeat. Soc-
rates lives the more by being put to
death; in the crucified Jesus the risen Christ
is revealed, and Stephen in receiving his
stoning defies the hurting power of stones.
What is real cannot be destroyed. When a
man finds that within him which is real,
which is constant, abiding, changeless, and
eternal, he enters into that reality, and
becomes meek. All the powers of darkness
will come against him, but they will do

THE MIGHT OF MEEKNESS 117

him no hurt, and shall at last depart from
him.

The meek man is found in the time of
trial; when other men fall he stands. His
patience is not destroyed by the foolish
passions of others, and when they come
against him he does not strive nor cry.
He knows the utter powerlessness of all
evil, having overcome it in himself; and
lives in the changeless strength and power
of divine Good.

Meekness is one aspect of the operation
of the changeless Love that is at the
Heart of all things, and is therefore an
imperishable quality. He who lives in it is
without fear, knowing the Highest and
having the lowest under his feet.

The meek man shines in darkness, and
flourishes in obscurity. Meekness cannot
boast, nor advertise itself, nor thrive on
popularity. It is practised, and being a
spiritual quality it is perceived only by
the eye of the spirit. Those who are not
spiritually awakened see it not, nor do they
love it, being enamored of and blinded by

/
118 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

worldly shows and appearances. Nor does
history take note of the meek man. Its
glory is that of strife and self-aggrandisement;
his is the glory of peace and gentleness.
History chronicles the earthly, not the
heavenly acts. Yet though he lives in ob-
scurity he cannot be hidden— for how can light
be hid ?; he continues to shine after he
has withdrawn himself from the world,
and is worshipped by the world that knew
him not.

That the meek man should be neglected,
abused, or misunderstood is reckoned by
him as of no account, and therefore not to
be considered, much less resisted. He knows
that all such weapons are the flimsiest and
most ineffectual of shadows. To them,
therefore, who give him evil he gives good.
He resists none, and thereby conquers all.

He who imagines he can be injured by
others, who seeks to justify and defend
himself against them, does not understand
Meekness, does not comprehend the essence
and meaning of life. "He abused me, he
beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me. —

THE MIGHT OF MEEKNESS 119

In those who harbor such thoughts hatred
will never cease, . . . for hatred ceases not
by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by
love." What sayest thou, thy neighbor
has spoken thee falsely ? Well, what of
that ? Can a falsity hurt thee ? What is
false is false, and there is an end of it.
It is without life, and without power to
hurt any but him who seeks to hurt by it.
It is nothing to thee that thy neighbor
should speak falsely of thee, but it is much
to thee that thou shouldst resist him, and
seek to justify thyself, for, by so doing,
thou givest life and vitality to thy neigh-
bor's falseness, so that thou art injured
and distressed. Take all evil out of thine
own heart, then shalt thou see the folly of
resisting it in another. Thou wilt be
trodden on ? Thou art trodden on already
if thou thinkest thus. The injury that thou
seest as coming from another comes only
from thyself. The wrong thought, or word,
or act of another has no power to hurt
thee unless thou vivify it by thy passionate
resistance, and so receivest it into thy-

120 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

self. If a man slander me, that is his con-
cern, not mine. I have to do with my
own soul, not with my neighbor's.
Though all the world misjudge me, it is
no business of mine; but that I should
possess my soul in Purity and Love, that
is all my business. There shall be no
end to strife until men cease to justify
themselves. He who would have wars cease
let him cease to defend any party; let him
cease to defend himself. Not by strife can
peace come, but by ceasing from strife.
The glory of Caesar resides in the resistance
of his enemies. They resist and fall. Give
to Caesar what Caesar demands, and Caesar* s
glory and power are gone. Thus by
submission does the meek man conquer
the strong man; but it is not the outward
show of submission that is slavery, it is
the inward and spiritual submission that
is freedom.

Claiming no rights, the meek man is not
troubled with self-defence and self-justi-
fication; he lives in love, and therefore
comes under the immediate and vital pro-

THE MIGHT OF MEEKNESS 121

tection of the Great Love that is the
Eternal Law of the universe. He neither
claims nor seeks his own; thus do all things
come to him, and all the universe shields
and protects him.

He who says, "I have tried Meekness,
and it has failed," has not tried Meekness.
It cannot be tried as an experiment. It is
only arrived at by unreserved self-sacrifice.
Meekness does not consist merely in non-
resistance in action; it consists pre-eminently
in non-resistance in thought, in ceasing to
hold or to have any selfish, condemnatory,
or retaliatory thoughts. The meek man
therefore cannot take offence or have
his feelings hurt, living as he does above
hatred, folly, and vanity. Meekness can
never fail.

O thou who searchest for the Heavenly
Life! strive after Meekness; increase thy
patience and forbearance day by day; bid
thy tongue cease from all harsh words;
withdraw thy mind from selfish arguments;
and refuse to brood upon thy wrong: so
living, thou shalt carefully tend and cultivate

122 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

the pure and delicate flower of Meekness
in thy heart, until at last its divine sweetness
and purity and beauteous perfection shall
be revealed to thee, and thou shalt become
gentle, joyful, and strong. Repine not that
thou art surrounded by irritable and selfish
people; but rather rejoice that thou art so
favored as to have thine own imperfections
revealed to thee, and that thou art so placed
as to necessitate within thee a constant
struggle for self-mastery and the attainment
of perfection. The more there is of harsh-
ness and selfishness around thee the greater
is the need of thy Meekness and love.
If others seek to wrong thee, all the more
is it needful that thou shouldst cease from
all wrong, and live in love; if others preach
Meekness, humility, and love, and do not
practise these, trouble not, nor be annoyed;
but do thou in the silence of thy heart
and in thy contact with others practise
these things, and they shall preach them-
selves. Though thou utter no declama-
tory word, and stand before no gathered
audience, thou shalt teach the whole world.

THE MIGHT OF MEEKNESS 123

As thou becomest meek, thou shalt learn
the deeper secrets of the universe. Nothing is
hidden from him who overcometh himself.
Into the cause of causes shalt thou penetrate,
and lifting, one after another, every veil of
illusion, shalt reach at last the inmost
Heart of Being. Thus becoming one with
Life, thou shalt know all life, and, seeing
into causes, and knowing realities, thou
shalt be no more anxious about thyself
and others and the world, but shalt see
that all things that are are engines of the
Great Law. Canopied with gentleness, thou
shalt bless and never curse, love and never
hate, forgive and never condemn, yield
where others strive, give up where others
grasp, lose where others gain. And in
their strength they shall be weak; and in
thy weakness thou shalt be strong; yea,
thou shalt mightily prevail. He that hath
not unbroken gentleness hath not Truth:

"Therefore when Heaven would save a man, it enfolds him
with gentleness."

THE RIGHTEOUS MAN

>"T"VHE righteous man is invincible. No
-■• enemy can possibly oy rercome or confound
him; an'd he needs no other protection than
that of his own integrity and holiness.

As it is impossible for evil to overcome
Good, so the righteous man can never be
brought low by the unrighteous. Slander,
envy, hatred, malice can never reach the
righteous man nor cause him any suffering,
and those who try to injure him only succeed
ultimately in bringing ignominy upon
themselves.

The righteous man, having nothing to
hide, committing no acts that require
stealth, and harboring no thoughts and
desires that he would not like others to
know, is fearless and unashamed. His step
is firm, his body upright, and his speech
direct and without ambiguity. He looks
everybody in the face. How can he fear
any who wrongs none ? How can he be

126 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

ashamed before any who deceives none ?
Ceasing from all wrong he can never
be wronged; ceasing from all deceit he can
never be deceived.

The righteous man, performing all his
work with scrupulous diligence, and living
above sin, is invulnerable at every point.
He who has slain the inward enemies of
virtue can never be brought low by any
outward enemy; neither does he need to
seek any protection against them, righteous-
ness being an all-sufficient protection.

The unrighteous man is vulnerable at
almost every point; living in his passions,
the slave of prejudices, impulses, and ill-
formed opinions, he is continually suffering,
as he imagines, at the hands of others.
The slanders, attacks, and accusations of
others cause him great suffering because
they have a basis of truth in himself;
not having the protection of righteousness,
he endeavors to justify and protect him-
self by resorting to retaliation and specious
argument, and even to subterfuge and
deceit.

THE RIGHTEOUS MAN 127

The partially righteous man is vulnerable
at every point where he falls short of
righteousness, and should the righteous man
fall from his righteousness and give way to
one sin, his invincibility is gone, for he has
thereby placed himself where attack and
accusation can justly reach and injure him,
because he has first injured himself.

If a man suffers or is injured through the
instrumentality of others, let him look to
himself; putting aside self-pity and self-
defence, he will find in his own heart the
source of all his woe.

No evil can happen to the righteous man
who has cut off the source of evil in him-
self; living in the All-Good, and abstaining
from sin in thought, word, and deed,
whatever happens to him is good; neither
can any person, event, or circumstance
cause him suffering, for the tyranny of
circumstance is utterly destroyed for him
who has broken the bonds of sin.

The suffering, the sorrowing, the weary
and broken-hearted ever seek a sorrowless
refuge, a haven of perpetual peace. Let

E.K.-9]

128 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

such go to the refuge of the righteous life;
let them come now and enter the haven of
the sinless state, for sorrow cannot overtake
the righteous; suffering cannot reach him
who does not waste in self-seeking his
spiritual substance; and he cannot be
afflicted by weariness and unrest whose
heart is at peace with all.

PERFECT LOVE

r_|~AHE Children of Light, who abide in the
-■- Kingdom of Heaven, see the universe and
all that it contains as the manifestation of
one Law — the Law of Love. They see
Love as the moulding, sustaining, protecting,
and perfecting Power immanent in all
things animate and inanimate. To them
Love is not merely and only a rule of life,
it is the Law of Life, it is Life itself. Know-
ing this, they order their whole life in
accordance with Love, not regarding their
own personality. Thus practising obedi-
ence to the Highest, to divine Love, they
become conscious partakers of the power
of Love; and so arrive at perfect Freedom
as Masters of Destiny.

The universe is preserved because Love
is at the Heart of it. Love is the only
preservative power. While there is hatred
in the heart of man, he imagines the Law
to be cruel; but when his heart is mellowed

130 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

by Compassion and by Love, he perceives
that the Law is Infinite Kindness. So kind
is the Law that it protects man against his
own ignorance. Man, in his puny efforts
to subvert the Law by attaching undue
importance to his own little personality,
brings upon himself such trains of suffering
that he is at last compelled, in the depth
of his afflictions, to seek for Wisdom;
finding Wisdom, he finds Love, and knows
it as the Law of his being, the Law of the
universe. Love does not punish; man
punishes himself by his own hatred; by
striving to preserve evil that has no life
by which to preserve itself, and by trying
to subvert Love, which can neither be
overcome nor destroyed, being of the sub-
stance of Life. When a man burns himself,
does he accuse the fire ? Therefore when
a man suffers, let him look for some
ignorance or disobedience within himself.
Love is Perfect Harmony, pure Bliss, and
contains, no element of suffering. Let a
man think no thought and do no act not
in accordance with pure Love, and suffer-

PERFECT LOVE 131

ing shall no more trouble him. If a man
would know Love and partake of its un-
dying bliss, he must practise it in his heart;
he must become Love.

He who always acts from the spirit of Love
is never deserted, is never left in a dilemma
or difficulty, for Love— impersonal Love— is
both Knowledge and Power. He who has
learned how to Love has learned how to
master every difficulty, how to transmute
every failure into success, how to clothe
every event and condition in garments of
blessedness and beauty.

The way to Love is by self-mastery, and,
travelling that way, a man builds himself up
in Knowledge as he proceeds. Arriving at
Love, he enters into full possession of body
and mind, by right of the divine Power
he has earned.

"Perfect Love casteth out fear." To
know Love is to know that there is no
harmful power in the whole universe.
Even sin itself, which the worldly and
unbelieving imagine to be so unconquerable,
is known as a weak and perishable

132 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

thing, that shrinks and disappears before
the compelling power of Good. Perfect
Love is perfect Harmlessness. He who
has destroyed in himself all thoughts of harm
and all desire to harm, receives the uni-
versal protection, and knows himself to be
invincible.

Perfect Love is perfect Patience. Anger
and irritability cannot dwell with it nor
come near it. It sweetens every bitter
occasion with the perfume of holiness, and
transmutes trial into divine strength. Com-
plaint is foreign to it. He who loves
bewails nothing, but accepts all things and
conditions as heavenly guests; he is therefore
constantly blessed, and sorrow does not
overtake him.

Perfect Love is perfect Trust. He who
has destroyed the desire to grasp can never
be troubled with the fear of loss. Loss
and gain are alike foreign to him. Stead-
fastly maintaining a loving attitude of mind
toward all, and pursuing in the performance
of his labors a constant and loving activity,
Love protects him and evermore supplies

PERFECT LOVE 133

him in fullest measure with all that he
needs.

Perfect Love is perfect Power. The
wisely loving heart commands without exer-
cising any authority. All things and all
men obey him who obeys the Highest.
He thinks, and lo! he has already accom-
plished. He speaks, and behold! a world
hangs upon his simple utterances. He has
harmonized his thoughts with the Imper-
ishable and Unconquerable Forces, and
for him weakness and uncertainty are no
more. His every thought is a purpose; his
every act an accomplishment; he moves
with the Great Law, not setting his puny
personal will against it, and thus becomes
a channel through which the Divine Power
can flow in unimpeded and beneficent
expression. He has thus become Power
itself.

Perfect Love is perfect Wisdom. The
man who loves all is the man who knows
all. Having thoroughly learned the lessons
of his own heart, he knows the tasks and
trials of other hearts, and adapts himself

134 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

to them gently and without ostentation.
Love illuminates the intellect; without it the
intellect is blind and cold and lifeless. Love
succeeds where the intellect fails; sees where
the intellect is blind; knows where the
intellect is ignorant. Reason is only com-
pleted in Love, and is ultimately absorbed
in it. Love is the Supreme Reality in the
universe, and as such it contains all Truth.
Infinite Tenderness enfolds and cherishes
the universe; therefore is the wise man
gentle and childlike and tender-hearted.
He sees that the one thing all creatures
need is Love, and he gives unstintingly.
He knows that all occasions require the
adjusting power of Love, and he ceases
from harshness. .

To the eye of Love all things are revealed,
not as an infinity of complex effects, but
in the light of Eternal Principles, out of
which spring all causes and effects, and
back into which they return. "God is
Love"; than Love there is nothing more
perfect. He who would find pure Knowl-
edge let him find pure Love.

PERFECT LOVE 135

Perfect Love is Perfect Peace. He who
dwells with it has completed his pilgrimage
in the underworld of sorrow. With mind
calm and heart at rest, he has banished the
shadows of grief, and knows Eternal Life.

If thou wouldst perfect thyself in Knowl-
edge, perfect thyself in Love. If thou
wouldst reach the Highest, ceaselessly cul-
tivate a loving and compassionate heart.

PERFECT FREEDOM

^X^HERE is Perfect Freedom in the Heaven-
*■■ \y Life. This is its great glory. This
Supreme Freedom is gained by obedience. He
who obeys the Highest co-operates with the
Highest, and so masters every force within
himself and every condition without. A man
may choose the lower and neglect the Higher,
but the Higher is never overcome by the
lower: herein lies the revelation of Freedom.
Let a man choose the Higher and abandon,
the lower; he shall then establish himself
as an Overcomer, and shall realize Perfect
Freedom.

To give the reins to inclination is the
only slavery; to conquer oneself the only
freedom. The slave to self loves his chains,
and will not have one of them broken for
fear he should be depriving himself of some
cherished delight. He clings to his grati-
fications and vanities, regarding freedom
from them as an empty and undesirable

138 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

condition. He thus defeats and enslaves
himself.

By self-enlightenment is Perfect Freedom
found. While a man remains ignorant
of himself, of his desires, of his emotions
and thoughts, and of the inward causes
that mould his life and destiny, having
neither control nor understanding of him-
self, he will remain in bondage to passion,
sorrow, suffering, and fluctuating fortune.
The Land of Perfect Freedom lies through
the Gate of Knowledge.

All outward oppression is only the shadow
and effect of the real oppression within.
For ages the oppressed have cried for liberty,
and a thousand man-made statutes have
failed to give it to them. They only can give
it to themselves; they shall find it only
in obedience to the Divine Statutes that
are inscribed upon their hearts. Let them
resort to the inward Freedom, and the
shadow of oppression shall no more darken
the earth. Let men cease to oppress them-
selves, and no man shall oppress his brother.

Men legislate for an outward freedom,

PERFECT FREEDOM 139

yet continue to render such freedom impos-
sible of achievement by fostering an inward
condition of enslavement. They thus pursue
a shadow without, and ignore the substance
within. Man will be free when he is freed
from self. All outward forms of bondage
and oppression shall cease to be when man
ceases to be the willing bond-slave of passion,
error, and ignorance. Freedom is to the free.
While men cling to weakness they cannot
have strength; while they love darkness
they can receive no light; so long as
they prefer bondage they can enjoy no
liberty. Strength, light, and freedom are
ready now, and can be had by all who love
them, who aspire to them. Freedom does
not reside in co-operative aggression, for
this will always produce, reactively, co-
operative defence — hence warfare, hatred,
party strife, and the destruction of liberty.
Freedom resides in individual self-conquest.
The emancipation of Humanity is frus-
trated and withheld by the self-enslavement
of the unit. Thou who criest to man and
to God for liberty, liberate thyself! j V4

140 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

The Heavenly Freedom is freedom from
passion, from cravings, from opinions, from
the tyranny of the flesh, and the tyranny
of the intellect: this first, and then all
outward freedom, as effect to cause. The
Freedom that begins within and extends
outwardly until it embraces the whole man,
is an emancipation so complete, all-embrac-
ing, and perfect as to leave no galling fetter
unbroken. Free thy soul from all sin, and
thou shalt walk a freed and fearless man
in the midst of a world of fearful slaves;
and, seeing thee, many slaves shall take
heart and shall join thee in thy glorious
freedom.

He who says, "My worldly duties are
irksome to me; I will leave them and go
into solitude, where I shall be as free as
the air," thinking to gain freedom thus,
will find only a harder slavery. The tree
of Freedom is rooted in Duty, and he who
would pluck its sweet fruits must discover
joy in Duty.

Glad-hearted, calm, and ready for all
tasks is he who is freed from self. Irksome-

PERFECT FREEDOM 141

ness and weariness cannot enter his heart,
and his divine strength lightens every bur-
den so that its weight is not felt. He does
not run away from Duty with his chains
about him, but breaks them and stands
free.

Make thyself pure; make thyself proof
against weakness, temptation, and sin; for
only in thine own heart and mind shalt
thou find that Perfect Freedom for which
the whole world sighs and seeks in vain.

GREATNESS AND GOODNESS

/"^OODNESS, simplicity, greatness: these
^-* three are one, and this trinity of perfection
cannot be separated. All greatness springs
from goodness, and all goodness is pro-
foundly simple. Without goodness there
is no greatness. Some men pass through
the world as destructive forces, like the
tornado or the avalanche, but they are not
great; they are to greatness as the avalanche
is to the mountain. The work of greatness
is enduring and preservative, and not violent
and destructive. The greatest souls are
the gentlest.

Greatness is never obtrusive. It works
in silence, seeking no recognition, which is
why it is not easily perceived and recog-
nized. Like the mountain, it towers up in
its vastness, so that those in its immediate
vicinity, who receive its shelter and shade,
do not see it. Its sublime grandeur is only
beheld as they recede from it. The great

E.K.-10]

144 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

man is not seen by his contemporaries;
the majesty of his form is outlined only
through its recession in time. This is the awe
and enchantment of distance. Men occupy
themselves with the small things: their
houses, trees, land. Few contemplate the
mountain at whose base they live, and
fewer still essay to explore it. But in the
distance these small things disappear, and
then the solitary beauty of the mountain is
perceived. Popularity, noisy obtrusiveness,
and shallow show, these superficialities
rapidly disappear, and leave behind no
enduring mark; whereas greatness slowly
emerges from obscurity, and endures for
ever.

Jewish rabbi and rabble alike saw not
the divine beauty of Jesus; they saw only
an unlettered carpenter. To his acquaint-
ances, Homer was only a blind beggar, but
the centuries reveal him as Homer the
immortal poet. Two hundred years after
the farmer of Stratford— and all that is known
of him— has disappeared the real Shakes-
peare is discerned. All true genius is

GREATNESS AND GOODNESS 145

impersonal. It belongs not to the man
through whom it is manifested; it belongs
to all. It is a diffusion of pure Truth; the
Light of Heaven descending on all mankind.

Every work of genius, in whatsoever
department of art, is a symbolic manifest-
ation of impersonal Truth. It is universal,
and finds a response in every heart in every
age and race. Anything short of this is
not genius, is not greatness. That work which
defends a religion perishes; it is religion
that lives. Theories about immortality fade
away, immortal man endures; commentaries
upon Truth come to the dust, Truth alone
remains. That only is true in art which
represents the True; that only is great in
life which is universally and eternally true.
The True is the Good; and the Good
is the True.

Every immortal work springs from the
Eternal Goodness in the human heart, and
is clothed with the sweet and unaffected
simplicity of goodness. The greatest art is,
like nature, artless. It knows no trick, no
pose, no studied effort. There are no

146 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

mere tricks in Shakespeare; he is the
greatest of dramatists because he is the
simplest. The critics, not understanding
the wise simplicity of greatness, con-
demn the loftiest work. They cannot
discriminate between the childish and the
child-like. The True, the Beautiful, the
Great, is always childlike, and is perennially
fresh and young.

The great man is always the good man;
he is always simple. He draws from, nay,
lives in, the inexhaustible fountain of divine
Goodness within; he inhabits the Heavenly
Places; lives with the Invisible: he is inspired
and breathes the airs of Heaven.

He who would be great let him learn to
be good. He will therefore become great
by not seeking greatness. The selfish
desire to be great is an indication of
littleness, of personal vanity and obtrusive-
ness. The willingness to disappear from
gaze, the utter absence of self-aggrandize-
ment is the witness of greatness.

Littleness seeks and loves authority.
Greatness is never authoritative, and

GREATNESS AND GOODNESS 147

thereby becomes the authority to which
after ages appeal. He who seeks, loses;
he who is willing to lose, wins all
men. Be thy simple self, thy better self,
thine impersonal self, and lo! thou art great.
He who selfishly seeks authority shall suc-
ceed only in becoming a trembling apologist,
courting protection behind the back of
acknowledged greatness. He who will be-
come the servant of all men, desiring no
personal authority, shall live as a man, and
shall be called great. "Abide in the simple
and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart,
and thou shalt reproduce the fore-world
again." Forget thine own little self, and
fall back upon the Universal self, and thou
shalt reproduce in living and enduring forms
a thousand beautiful experiences; thou shalt
find within thyself the simple goodness
that is greatness.

"It is as easy to be great as to be small,"
says Emerson; and he utters a profound
truth. Forgetfulness of self is the whole
of greatness, as it is the whole of goodness
and happiness. In a*fleeting moment of self-

148 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

forgetfulness the smallest individuality be-
comes great; extend that moment indefinitely,
and there is a great soul, a great life. Cast
away thy personality, thy pretty cravings,
vanities, and ambitions, as a worthless
garment, and dwell in the loving, com-
passionate, selfless regions of thy soul, and
thou art no longer small — thou art great.

Asserting personal authority, a man de-
scends into littleness; practising goodness,
a man ascends into greatness. The pre-
sumptuousness of the small may for a time
obscure the humility of the great, but it is
at last swallowed up by it, as the noisy
river is lost in the calm ocean.

The vulgarity of ignorance and the pride
of learning must disappear. Their worth-
lessness is equal. They have no part in
the Soul of Goodness. If thou wouldst
do, thou must be. Thou shalt not mistake
information for Knowledge; thou must know
thyself as pure Knowledge. Thou shalt
not confuse learning with Wisdom; thou
must apprehend thyself as undefined Wis-
dom.

GREATNESS AND GOODNESS 149

Wouldst thou write a living book ? Thou
must first live; thou shalt draw around thee
the mystic garment of a manifold experience,
and shalt learn, through enjoyment and suf-
fering, gladness and sorrow, conquest and
defeat, what neither book nor teacher can
teach thee. Thou shalt learn of life, of thy
soul; thou shalt tread the Lonely Road,
and shalt become; thou shalt be. Thou shalt
then write thy book, and it shall live; it
shall be more than a book. Let thy book
first live in thee, then shalt thou live in thy
book.

Wouldst thou carve a statue that shall
captivate the ages, or paint a picture that
shall endure ? Thou shalt acquaint thyself
with the divine Beauty within thee. Thou
shalt comprehend and adore the Invisible
Beauty; thou shalt know the Principles
that are the soul of Form; thou shalt
perceive the matchless symmetry and fault-
less proportions of Life, of Being, of the
Universe: thus knowing the eternally True
thou shalt carve or paint the indescribably
Beautiful.

150 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

Wouldst thou produce an imperishable
poem? Thou shalt first live thy poem;
thou shalt think and act rhythmically;
thou shalt find the never-failing source of
inspiration in the loving places of thy heart.
Then shall immortal lines flow from thee
without effort, and, as the flowers of wood
and field spontaneously spring, so shall
beautiful thoughts grow up in thine heart
and, enshrined in words as moulds to
their beauty, shall subdue the hearts of
men.

Wouldst thou compose such music as
shall gladden and uplift the world ? Thou
shalt adjust thy soul to the Heavenly Har-
monies within. Thou shalt know that thy-
self, that life and the universe are Music.
Thou shalt touch the chords of Life. Thou
shalt know that Music is everywhere; that
it is the Heart of Being; then shalt thou
hear with thy spiritual ear the Deathless
Sympathies.

Wouldst thou preach the living Word ?
Thou shalt forego thyself, and become that
Word. Thou shalt know one thing: that the

GREATNESS AND GOODNESS 151

human heart is good, is divine; thou shalt
live one thing: Love. Thou shalt love all,
seeing no evil, thinking no evil, believing no
evil; then, though thou speak but little, thine
every act shall be a power, thine every word
a precept. By thy pure thought, thy selfless
deed, though it appear hidden, thou shalt
preach, to untold multitudes of aspiring
souls through the ages.

To him who chooses Goodness, sacrificing
all, is given what is more than and in-
cludes all. He becomes possessor of the
Best, communes with the Highest, and
enters the company of the Great.

The greatness that is flawless, rounded,
and complete is above and beyond all art.
It is Perfect Goodness in manifestation;
therefore the greatest souls are always
Teachers.

HEAVEN IN THE HEART

/TpHE toil of life ceases when the heart is
-^ pure. When the mind is harmonized with
the Divine Law the wheel of drudgery
ceases to turn, and all work is transmuted
into joyful activity. The pure-hearted are
as the lilies of the field, which toil not, yet
are fed and clothed from the abundant
storehouse of the All-Good. But the lily
is not lethargic; it is ceaselessly active,
drawing nourishment from earth and air
and sun. By the Divine Power immanent
within it, it builds itself up, cell by celly
opening itself to the light, growing and
expanding toward the perfect flower. So
is it with those who, having yielded up
self-will, have learned to co-operate with
the Divine Will. They grow in grace,
goodness, and beauty, freed from anxiety,
and without friction and toil. They never
work in vain; there is no waste action.
Every thought, act, and thing done sub-

154 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

serves the Divine Purpose, and adds to the
sum-total of the world's happiness.

Heaven is within. They will look for
it in vain who look elsewhere. In no
outward place will the soul find Heaven
until it finds it within itself; for wherever
the soul goes its thoughts and desires
go with it; and however beautiful may
be its outward dwelling-place, if there is sin
within, there will be darkness and gloom
without; for sin casts a dark shadow
over the pathway of the soul — the shadow
of sorrow.

The world is beautiful, transcendently
and wonderfully beautiful. Its beauties and
inspiring wonders cannot be numbered; yet,
to the sin-sodden mind, it appears as a
dark and joyless place. Where passion and
self are, there is hell, and there are all the
pains of hell; where Holiness and Love
are, there is Heaven, and there are all the
joys of Heaven.

Heaven is here. It is also everywhere.
It is wherever there is a pure heart. The
whole universe is abounding with joy, but

HEAVEN IN THE HEART 155

the sin-bound heart can neither see, hear,
nor partake of it. No one is, or can be,
arbitrarily shut out from Heaven; each
shuts himself out. Its Golden Gates are
eternally ajar, but the selfish cannot find
them; they mourn, yet see not; they cry,
but hear not. Only to those who turn
their eyes to heavenly things, their ears to
heavenly sounds, are the happy Portals of
the Kingdom revealed, and they enter and
are glad.

All life is gladness when the heart is
right, when it is attuned to the sweet chords
of holy Love. Life is Religion, Religion is
life, and all is Joy and Gladness. The
jarring notes of creeds and parties, the
black shadows of sin, let them pass away
for ever; they cannot enter the Door of
Life; they form no part of Religion. Joy,
Music, Beauty: these belong to the True
Order of things; they are of the texture of
the universe; of these is the divine Garment
of Life woven. Pure Religion is glad,
not gloomy. It is Light without darkness
or shadow.

156 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

Despondency, disappointment, grief: these
are the reflex aspects of pleasurable excite-
ment, self-seeking, and desire. Give up
the latter, and the former will always dis-
appear; there remains the perfect Bliss of
Heaven.

Abounding and unalloyed Happiness is
man's true life; perfect Blessedness is his
rightful portion; and when he loses his false
life and finds the true he enters into the
full possession of his Kingdom. The King-
dom of Heaven is man's Home; it is
here and now, it is in his own heart, and
he is not left without Guides, if he wills
to find it. All man's sorrows and suffering
are the result of his own self-elected
estrangement from the Divine Source, the
All-Good, the Father, the Heart of Love.
Let him return to his Home; his peace
awaits him.

The Heavenly-minded are without sorrow
and suffering because they are without
sin. What the worldly-minded call troubles
they regard as pleasant tasks of Love and
Wisdom. Troubles belong to hell; they

HEAVEN IN THE HEART 157

do not enter Heaven. This is so simple it
should not appear strange. If you have a
trouble it is in your own mind, and nowhere
else; you make it, it is not made for you;
it is not in your task; it is not in that out-
ward thing. You are its creator, and it
derives its life from you only. Look upon
all your difficulties as lessons to be learned,
as aids to spiritual growth, and lo! they are
difficulties no longer. This is one of the
Pathways up to Heaven.

To transmute everything into Happiness
and Joy, this is supremely the work and
duty of the Heavenly-minded man. To
reduce everything to wretchedness and de-
privation is the process that the worldly-
minded unconsciously pursue. To live in
Love is to work in Joy. Love is the magic
that transforms all things into power and
beauty. It brings plenty out of poverty,
power out of weakness, loveliness out of
deformity, sweetness out of bitterness, light
out of darkness, and produces all blissful
conditions out of its own substantial but
indefinable essence.

158 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

He who loves can never want. The
universe belongs to Goodness, and it there-
fore belongs to the good man. It can be
possessed by all without stint or shrinking,
for Goodness, and the abundance of Good-
ness—material, mental, and spiritual abun-
dance—is inexhaustible. Think lovingly,
speak lovingly, act lovingly, and every need
shall be supplied; you shall not walk in
desert places, and no danger shall over-
take you.

Love sees with faultless vision, judges
with true judgment, acts in wisdom. Look
through the eyes of Love, and you shall
see everywhere the Beautiful and the True;
judge with the mind of Love, and you shall
err not, shall wake no wail of sorrow; act
in the spirit of Love, and you shall strike
eternal harmonies upon the Harp of Life.

Make no compromise with self. Cease
not to strive until your whole being is
swallowed up in Love. To love all and
always: this is the Heaven of Heavens.
"Let there be nothing within thee that is
not very beautiful and very gentle, and then

HEAVEN IN THE HEART 159

will there be nothing without thee that is
not beautiful and softened by the spell of
thy presence. " All that you do, let it be
done in calm wisdom and not from desire,
impulse, or opinion; this is the Heavenly
way of action.

Purify your thought-world until no stain
is left, and you shall ascend into Heaven
while living in the body. You will then see
the things of the outward world clothed in
all beautiful forms. Having found the
Divine Beauty within ourselves, it springs
to life in every outward thing. To the
beautiful soul the world is beautiful.

Undeveloped souls are merely unoped
flowers. The perfect Beauty lies concealed
within, and will one day reveal itself to the
full-orbed light of Heaven. Seeing men
thus, we stand where evil is not, and where
the eye beholds only good. Herein lies
the peace and patience and beauty of Love:
it sees no evil. He who loves thus becomes
the protector of all men. Though in their
ignorance they should hate him, he shields
and loves them.

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160 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

What gardener is so foolish as to condemn
his flowers because they do not develop in
a day ? Learn to love, and you shall see
in all souls, even those called degraded,
the Divine Beauty, and shall know that it
will not fail to come forth. This is one of
the Heavenly Visions; it is out of this that
Gladness comes.

Open the petals of your soul and let the
glorious Light stream in.

Every soul is a resolved harmony. It
shall at last strike the Perfect Chord, and
swell the joyful melodies of Heaven.

Hell is the preparation for Heaven;
out of the debris of its ruined hovels are
built pleasant mansions wherein the per-
fected soul may dwell.

Night is only a fleeting shadow which
the world casts, and sorrow but a transient
shade cast by the self. Come out into the
Sunlight. Know this, O reader! that you
are divine. You are not cut off from the
Divine except in your own unbelief. Rise
up, O Son of God! and shake off the night-
mare of sin that binds you; accept your

HEAVEN IN THE HEART 161

heritage: the Kingdom of Heaven! Drug
your soul no longer with the poisons of
false beliefs. You are not a worm of the
dust unless you choose to make yourself
one. You are a divine, immortal, God-born
being, and this you may know if you will
to seek and find. Cling no longer to your
impure and grovelling thoughts, and you
shall know that you are a radiant and
celestial spirit, filled with all pure and
lovable thoughts. Wretchedness and sin
and sorrow are not your portion here unless
you accept them as such; and if you do
this, they shall be your portion hereafter,
for these things are not apart from your
soul-condition; they will go wherever you
go; they are only within you.

Heaven, not hell, is your portion here and
always. It only requires you to take what
belongs to you. You are the master,
and you choose whom you will serve. You
are the maker of your state, and your
choice determines your condition. What
you pray and ask for — with your mind and
heart, not with your lips merely, this you

162 THE HEAVENLY LIFE

receive. You are served as you serve.
You are conditioned as you condition.
You garner in your own.

Heaven is yours; you have but to enter
in and take possession; and Heaven means
Supreme Happiness, Perfect Blessedness; it
leaves nothing to be desired, nothing to be
grieved over. It is complete satisfaction
now and in this world. It is within you;
and if you do not know this, it is because
you persist in turning the back of your soul
upon it. Turn around and you shall behold
it.

Come and live in the sunshine of your
being. Come out of the shadows and the
dark places. You are framed for Happi-
ness. You are a child of Heaven. Purity,
Wisdom, Love, Plenty, Joy, and Peace:
these are the eternal Realities of the King-
dom, and they are yours, but you cannot
possess them in sin; they have no part in
the Realm of Darkness. They belong to
"the Light which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world," the Light of spot-
less Love. They are the heritage of the

\

HEAVEN IN THE HEART 163

holy Christ-Child who shall come to birth
in your soul when you are ready to divest
yourself of all your impurities. They are
your real self. — your Divine Self.

Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process.
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004

PreservationTechnologles

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