With Determination and Will, all things are Possible

There it was, just lying on the ground, what looked like a discarded gum wrapper. Since I wasn’t too busy and being of good conscience, I walked over to pick it up to place in a trash can latter, following my motive of always leaving a place better than I found it. Upon examination it turned out the object was not trash, but to my surprise was a fine little medallion of an odd shape. Hundreds of people had seen it, thought they knew all about it, or what it was, and then walked on by, little suspecting its real value.

There is a spiritual parallel for this incident; almost everybody in the hurrying of life has glanced at an object, yet no one examined it, until someone with a spirit of curiosity, or inspired by quaint self imposed duty, pauses, picks it up, looks at it, and finds that it is far more than it appeared to be. Consequently, it is proven that by special attention to a subject, very remarkable results may be produced.

Learning to control or strengthen the Will is closely allied to developing Attention and Interest. Let us consider together the popular and common erroneous belief that everyone has an allotted amount of ability as it has pleased Nature to give; the same being true as regards Memory, Will, the Constructive or Artistic abilities, and so on. This erroneous belief has stifled many of us all our lives. The truth of the matter is the opposite of that belief; with attention and experience all our abilities may be increased infinitely, there is no thing that we can not do should we make up our minds to do it.

All of us know, or know of, ignorant people who complacently explain their indifference on the ground that they have no ability in such areas, as if ability were a special heaven sent gift. No one can be expected to take an interest and at once have ability, but where earnest and serious Attention has been directed to it; Interest soon follows. That's why it happens that those who deliberately train themselves in any given endeavor are invariably rewarded by acquiring skill and ability. The saying that “perseverance subdues impatience” sounds like a dull common place saying, but it is a silver medallion disguised as a discarded gum wrapper; there is a deep meaning hidden in plain sight. Your will, if it be allowed, with a little intelligence, forethought, and determination towards a purpose, can be developed into a keen mechanism by which you can control your very destiny.

Attention can be spontaneous, deliberate, or reflexive. The voluntary choosing or fixing of our mind upon an idea, image, or subject is deliberate, the noticing of something that we previously ignored is spontaneous attention, and when the idea for some reason impresses itself upon us then we have reflex attention.

Determination is a simple thought; if before we begin anything, we pause, and resolve that we will be meticulous, and not quit until we have mastered it: For strange as it may seem, doing this actually has a positive, and very often a remarkable result. This Forethought is far more easily awakened, or exerted, than Attention itself, but it prepares it, just as Attention prepares Interest.

Involuntary memory, or reflex attention excited by different causes often compels us to attend to subjects whether we will to or not. Everyone has been haunted with images or ideas even unto being tormented by them; like a tune that randomly appears in your head and you hear it all day long. That even a person of plain common-sense and strong will may be driven to sleeplessness, by some trifle, some mere jingle or rhyme, or idle memory, infers that we have within us a great power which must in some way be capable of being led to great or useful results by some process.

This process is so simple you will be stunned into angry stupor as to it ease and simplicity. Please sit down… This great spiritual and sacred hidden secret is repetition. That’s it, one word, which in this context means so much.

It is true that an image or idea may be often repeated to minds which do not think or reflect, without awakening attention; in a vast majority of cases forms a nucleus, or beginning, which may be easily increased to an indefinite extent. This was proven with subliminal advertising. Conversely a little exercise of the Will suffices in most cases to fix the attention on a subject, but in many cases Attention is attracted with little or no voluntary effort. On this fact is based the truth that when or where it is desired, Attention and Interest may be awakened with great ease by a simple process. Speaking of repetition; it must be mentioned that a vast proportion of senseless superstitions, traditions or customs, which no one can explain, originate in this way, and that in fact what we call habit or second nature is only another form or result of REPEATED involuntary attention and the unconscious giving of a place in the memory that which we have heard repeatedly.

A deliberate reflection on this can make it clear that if anyone really desires to take an interest in any subject, it is possible to do so, because Nature has placed in every mind a vast capacity for attention on ideas, and where the Attention is fixed, Interest, by an equally easy process, may always be induced to follow.

The best way to begin is to carefully read the simplest and easiest book of it which we can obtain, in order that we may know just exactly what it is, or its definition. With this done, at once, while the memory is fresh in mind, follow it up by other research or reading, observations or inquiries, on the same subject, for three books read together on anything will profit more than a hundred on differing subjects. In fact, a great deal of broken, irregular or disjointed reading is almost worse than none at all, as a little coherent study is more advantageous than a lot of disconnected fact gathering.

Many people would very willingly take an interest in many subjects if they knew how. Sadly, many put no faith in easy manuals to begin with, believing, in their ignorance, that a mere collection of rudiments cannot have much in it. We are all surrounded by thousands of subjects in which we might all take an interest, and do good works, if we would, select one, give it a little attention, and proceed to learn it. As it is, in general society the man or woman who has any special pursuit, accomplishment, or real interest for leisure hours, beyond idle gossip and empty time-killing, is a great exception. Nevertheless in perhaps a majority of cases there is a sincere desire to do something, which is killed by simple ignorance of the fact that with very little trouble, interest in something is within the easy reach of all.

If you wish to learn how to develop your Will and strengthen it, it is absolutely necessary to take an interest in it. Consider how this art of acquiring attention and interest has been obscured in most minds, and the difficulties of acquiring it, highly exaggerated. It is an easy matter to create a strong will, or strengthen that which we have, to a marvelous extent, yet you must first give your Attention firmly and fixedly to your intent or want, it is absolutely necessary that you first know in your own mind what you mean to do, and meditate upon it, not dreamily, or vaguely, but earnestly; and this guarantees your certain success.

Additionally if beginners, before taking up any pursuit, would calmly and deliberately consider the virtues of Attention and Interest, and how to acquire them, or bring them to bear on the proposed study or work, there would in truth be few failures in life if those who undertake anything first gave a long and careful consideration, some observation into detail, and, in fact, becoming familiar with the idea, and not trusting to acquire interest and perseverance in the future. Nine-tenths of the difficulty and doubt or fear which beginners experience, and which often inspires them to retreat, is due entirely to not having begun by training the Attention or awakened an Interest in the subject.

It is often that the reason for failure, or the ultimate failing to attain success, is simply because the people who seek it, are lacking in deep reflection, application, or earnest attention. They are quick to take hold, and as quick to let go. Therefore, they are the least likely to seriously reflect beforehand on the necessity of preparing the mind to patience and application.

Now it seems a simple thing to say, and so it is all the harder to understand, that before going to work at anything which will require perseverance and effort we can facilitate the result amazingly by thinking over and anticipating it. Let it suffice to say that earnest forethought, and the more of it the better, bestowed on that which we intend to undertake, is a thing rarely attempted, but which, when given, eases every burden and lightens every toil.

Plain forethought repeated is the easiest of mental efforts; use it to your benefit as often as you can.

Be Blessed

The Right Reasons

Before you do anything in your life, whether it is mundane like cutting the grass, artistic like decorating the house, or grandiose like starting a business, always ask yourself; “Am I doing this for the right reasons?”

Yes, the chores have to be done, but not if you're in the middle of crucial market research and yes you need to do yard work but not if you're worried that the neighbors will think you're lazy. Yes, the house has to be decorated, but not if it's at the expense of your health, yes your business needs to be run but not by shooting your stress levels through the roof. And above all definitely nothing needs to be done because you are worried about what other people might think.

Worrying about what the other people might think is called 'Other people slavery’ and it kills your creativity, your energy and your drive towards reaching your goals and fulfilling your dreams. This Other People Slavery stops you from going to places you want to visit, doing the things you want to do, and enjoying the kind of entertainment that you enjoy.

So, look at why you are doing something, make certain you're not always driven to do things because you're worried about what other people think of you. If your tired then stay home, they can go party if they want, but you need a nap. If you want to go to the park instead of the bar, go without them, you will be happier and have more money left in your pocket. Soon you will see your friends wanting to do things with you, because you are confident in whom you are, and they are not.

Nearly everyone you know will strive to be normal; just because it's socially acceptable, and the normal person goes nowhere special and achieves only the mundane. They live in a pleasant neighborhood in an average house, own an average car, and have a normal hobby, with a mundane routine life. In translation this means: every thing they do or have is or looks exactly alike, apart from the few odd differences of color.

Then they save up all year round to go on vacation, somewhere nice where it's safe, usually they book a package holiday, so everything is taken care of and they know exactly what to expect. Even the entertainment is all planned for them, their job is boring, but it pays the bills and the pension is good. It'll never make them rich, but then they don't want to be rich (but they wouldn't give away a lottery win!). They say things like “Anyone who's rich has had to lie and cheat their way to the top. I like to sleep at night with a clear conscience. I may not have much but at least its honest toil.” Most nights after work they shower, change and after dinner, put their feet up and watch television until bedtime. Every Sunday, they have a roast dinner and every Friday they treat themselves to a dinner out. Are they happy? Well, it’s a life isn't it?

That's how many people live their lives; they spend their days grumbling about how they hate their job, get fed up with their bosses and partners, but that's all they do. The same gripes day in and day out, but taking no action to change their situation, simply because they are slaves to being normal and worrying about “'what will other people think of me, if I do something unusual?”

So do you desire to be just another member of the herd, or would you like to go and do and be as you will? Yes strays get picked off by predators, so don’t be a stray, be a leader, be in the front of the herd and others will follow. By following your will and intentions you will not be wandering aimlessly through life waiting for something to happen to you. Instead you will be the one making things happen the way you want them to happen.

You only have one chance to live this life; it doesn’t matter if you believe in another life after this one or many other lives, you can not go back and do this life over again. You have this life, right now, to do something with; so get on with it and do something with your life. The choice is yours, not theirs, they can not take a shower and make you smell better, and neither can you eat their food and make them feel full. You have to live your life; you and only you can be you.

To quote Nelson Mandela:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure, it is our light that frightens us and not the darkness.
We ask ourselves; who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you to not be? Your playing small does not serve the world; there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine; we were born to make manifest the glory that is inside us. Thus as we let our light shine we unconsciously give those around us permission to do the same, as we are liberated from our own fear we liberate those around us.”

Be Blessed

The Control of Your Life

In this life we live there are very many principles that we live by. There are many natural laws that we live by too, and these laws are always at work. These universal laws are always in play, they are always behind the scenes causing the results that we see every day, the thing is that we can and should direct them to do our will.

Let us use an example of our automobile; if you go out and get into your vehicle you will be in either the driver’s position or the passenger position. If you are in the passenger position then you are not in control and will have to wait for someone else to come along to operate the vehicle and you will have to go where they want to go. Even if that other person is feeling generous and will take you where you want to go you are still at the mercy of how and when they direct the vehicle.

Now if you are in the driver’s seat you have the ability to control that car to accomplish your will. It will do as you command, but it will operate like a car, it will only do what it is supposed to do and nothing more or less. For fun let us call this the universal law of car. If you put the car in reverse and press the gas pedal nothing happens until you start the engine. That is part of the universal law of car that you have to start the engine. Once you have started the engine the car will now accept commands and do as you will.

So you put the car in reverse, and press the gas, but it doesn’t move as you have forgotten the other part of the universal law of car, and that is the law of the parking brake. So you release the brake and again you press on the gas with the gear in reverse and the vehicle moves in reverse. As the vehicle moves it will gain speed and will travel in the direction congruent with the other part of the universal law of car, and that is the law of steering. If it is not steered it will follow the direction in accordance with the sub law of tire direction and soon you will hit something.

To avoid hitting something you have to follow the law of steering and braking, once you have successfully moved the vehicle you now need to go somewhere and here the universal law of car shows that you need to use the forward gears to go forward. So you switch to forward gears let off the brake, use the law of steering and press on the gas and now you are going somewhere. The car will respond to the universal law of car, in that acceleration, steering and braking, will combine together with your direction and cause the vehicle to do something in accordance with your will. If you fail to act in the correct manner and direct the vehicle safely, you will crash, go the wrong way, go to the incorrect destination, or go the long way, all in accordance with the law of car. The vehicle will do as directed and will operate in the way that the law of car says it will.

Trying to use the universal law of car in the wrong manner will result in less than desired situations. If you desire to go to the valley to have a picnic then you steer on the given path follow the universal laws of traffic and soon you are in the valley enjoying your destination. However if you try to use the law of car in the wrong manner and try to take the short cut, you will find that the universal law of car shows that cars are not designed to fly and while you may reach your destination at the bottom of the valley you will not be in a position to enjoy your destination, or to use the universal law of car any further.

So it is with these other universal laws that we talk about. These laws will function as designed every time. It is not how these laws will bring things into your life; it is the fact that they will bring things into your life. What they bring depends on you and how you direct them, how you control them, and how you influence them.

As long as you know what the universal laws are and how to use them then you can achieve what you desire. You have to learn the nuts and bolts of these universal laws and how to apply them to your situation.

So you can choose to be a passenger, or you can choose to be a driver, if the passenger then do not complain, be grateful you are going somewhere, if the driver then select a destination and get moving.

Be Blessed

You Suffer Because You Don’t Have Love

The English language does not have differing words for the word love; it is all lumped together in a single word requiring the use of another word to define the love we talk about. Divine Love is distinguished from human loves in that it is free from partiality. Human loves cling to a particular object to the exclusion of all else, and when that object is removed, great is the suffering to the one who loves. While in contrast Divine Love embraces the whole universe, and, without clinging to any part, yet contains within itself the whole. So in effect the one who comes to it by gradually purifying and broadening their human loves until all the selfish and impure elements are burnt out of them, ceases from suffering.

It is because human loves are narrow and confined and mingled with selfishness that they create suffering. No suffering can result from that Love which is so absolutely pure that it seeks nothing for itself. Nevertheless, human loves are absolutely necessary as steps toward the Divine, and no soul is prepared to partake of Divine Love until it has become capable of the deepest and most intense human love. It is only by passing through human loves and human sufferings that Divine Love is reached and realized.

Once you come to regard your failings, your sorrows and sufferings as teachers telling you where you are weak and faulty, where you fall below the true and the divine, you then begin to watch yourself, and every slip, every pang of pain will show you where you need to work, and what you have to change or remove out of your life in order to bring yourself nearer to the Divine, indeed nearer to the Perfect Love. As you proceed, day by day detaching yourself more and more from the inward selfishness, the Love that is selfless will gradually become revealed to you, and when you are growing patient and calm, when your tantrums, tempers, and irritabilities are passing away from you, and the more powerful lusts and prejudices cease to control you, then you will know that the divine is awakening within you.

That selfless Love, the possession of which is peace and immortality, is the true power, the true meaning of life. All human loves are perishable like the forms to which they cling; but there is a Love that is imperishable, and that does not cling to appearances. All human loves are counterbalanced by human hates; but there is a Love that has no opposite or reaction; divine and free from all stain of self, that loves all alike.

Human loves are reflections of the Divine Love, and draw the soul nearer to the reality, the Love that knows neither sorrow nor change. It is well that lover, brother, sister, husband, wife should suffer deep anguish, and be enveloped in gloom when the visible object of their affections is torn from them; so that they may learn to turn their affections toward the invisible source of all, where alone abiding satisfaction is to be found.

When the sting of anguish penetrates the heart of human love; when gloom and loneliness and desertion cloud the soul of friendship and trust, then it is that the heart turns toward the sheltering love of the Eternal, and finds rest in its silent peace. Whosoever comes to this Love is not turned away comfortless, is not pierced with anguish nor surrounded with gloom; and is never deserted in the dark hour of trial. Are you purged of your temper, your irritability, your vanity, your personal dislikes, your judgment and condemnation of others? If not, then you will bring into your life suffering, as you have not realized the transforming Love of Divine Love.

Divine Love is not a mere sentiment or emotion; it is a state of knowledge which destroys the dominion of and the belief in evil, and lifts the soul into the joyful realization of the supreme Good. To the divinely wise, knowledge and Love are one and inseparable.

It is toward the complete realization of this divine Love that the whole world is moving; it was for this purpose that the universe came into existence, and every grasping at happiness, every reaching out of the soul toward objects, ideas and ideals, is an effort to realize it. But the one who does not realize this Love at present is grasping at the fleeting shadow and ignoring, in their blindness, the substance, and so suffering and sorrow continue, and must continue until the person, taught by their self inflicted pains, discovers the Love that is selfless, the wisdom that is calm and full of peace. And this Love, this Wisdom, this Peace, this tranquil state of mind and heart may be attained to, may be realized by all who are willing and ready to yield up self, and who are prepared to humbly enter into a comprehension of all that the giving up of self involves.

There is no arbitrary power in the universe; as the shadow follows the form, and as smoke comes after fire, so effect follows cause, and suffering precedes bliss. There is no effect in the world around us that does not have a cause, and that cause is in accordance with absolute justice. We all reap a harvest of suffering because in the near or distant past we have sown the bad seeds of selfishness; conversely we reap a harvest of bliss also as a result of our own sowing of the seeds of good.

Meditate upon this, strive to understand it, and you will then begin to sow only seeds of good, and will weed out the bad that you have previously grown in the garden of your heart.

Be Blessed

The Rock of Principles

It is a sad world we live in; it is filled with people who are only seeking pleasure, seeking to fulfill their own selfish desires, excitement, and novelty. They are not seeking strength, and power; but courting weakness, and eagerly engaging in dispersing what power they have.

Those people of real power and influence are few, because few are prepared to make the sacrifice necessary to the acquirement of power, and fewer still are ready to patiently build up character. To allow your self to be swayed by your fluctuating thoughts and impulses is to be weak and powerless; to rightly control and direct those forces is to be strong and powerful. People with strong animal passions have much of the ferocity of a beast, but this is not power. The elements of power are there; but it is only when this ferocity is tamed and subdued by the higher intelligence that real power begins; and you can only grow in power by awakening themselves to higher and ever higher states of intelligence and consciousness.

The difference between a person of weakness and one of power is not a simple measurement of the personal will (for the stubborn person is usually weak and foolish), but in that focus of consciousness which represents their states of knowledge. The pleasure seekers, the lovers of excitement, the hunters of novelty, and the victims of impulse and hysterical emotion lack that knowledge.

It is the knowledge of principles which gives balance, stability and influence. A person begins to develop power when you check your impulses and selfish inclinations, and instead focuses upon the higher and calmer consciousness within and steady yourself upon a principle.

The realization of unchanging principles in your consciousness is at once the source and secret of the highest power. When, after much searching, and suffering, and sacrificing, the light of an eternal principle dawns upon your soul, a divine calm ensues and joy unspeakable gladdens the heart.

The person, who is governed by selfishness, and not by a principle, changes their front whenever those selfish comforts are threatened, they become deeply intent upon defending and guarding their own interests, they regard all things as lawful that will serve that end. They are continually scheming as to how they can protect against their enemies, being too self-centered to perceive that they are their own enemy.

The one that stands upon a principle is the same calm, dauntless, possessed individual under all circumstances. When the hour of trial comes, and you have to decide between personal comfort and Truth, you give up this comfort and remain firm. The person of self regards the loss of wealth, comfort, or life style as the greatest calamities which could occur, while the person of principle looks upon these same incidents as insignificant, and not to be weighed with loss of character, or loss of Truth. To desert Truth is the only happening which can really be called a calamity.

It is the hour of crisis which decides who are the minions of darkness, and who are the children of light, it is the epoch of threatening disaster, ruin, and persecution which divides the sheep from the goats, and reveals to the reverential gaze of succeeding ages the men and women of power.

It is easy for a person, so long as they are left in the enjoyment of their possessions, to persuade their self that one believes in and adheres to the principles of Peace, Brotherhood, and Universal Love; but if and when those enjoyments are threatened, or imagines they are threatened, they begins to clamor for war and retribution and demanding their rights be defended. This shows that they believe in and stands upon, not Peace, Brotherhood, and Love, but strife, selfishness, and hatred.

The one who does not desert their principles when threatened with the loss of every earthly thing, even to the loss of reputation and life, is the person of power. There is no way to the acquirement of spiritual power except by that inward illumination and enlightenment which is the realization of spiritual principles; and those principles can only be realized by constant practice and application.

Take the principle of divine Love, and quietly and diligently meditate upon it with the object of arriving at a thorough understanding of it. Bring its searching light to bear upon all your habits, your actions, your speech and interactions with others, your every secret thought and desire. As you persevere in this course, the divine Love will become more and more perfectly revealed to you, and your own shortcomings will stand out in more and more vivid contrast, spurring you on to renewed effort; and having once caught a glimpse of the unsurpassed majesty of that immortal principle, you will never again rest in your weakness, your selfishness, or your imperfection, but will pursue that Love until you have relinquished every discordant aspect, and have brought yourself into perfect harmony with it. That state of inward harmony is spiritual power.

Take also other spiritual principles, such as Purity and Compassion, and apply them in the same way, and, so exacting is Truth, you will be able to rest until the innermost part of your soul is clear of every stain, and your heart has become incapable of any hard, disparaging, or pitiless impulse. Only in so far as you understand, realize and rely upon, these principles, will you acquire spiritual power, and that power will be manifested in and through you in the form of increasing calmness, patience and poise.

Dispassion argues superior self control; sublime patience is the very hallmark of divine knowledge, and to retain an unbroken calm amid all the duties and distractions of life, clearly marks the person of power. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is the one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect attractiveness the independence of solitude.

Some mystics hold that perfection in dispassion is the source of that power by which miracles are performed, and truly the one who has gained such perfect control of all their interior forces that no shock, however great, can for one moment unbalance them, must be capable of guiding and directing those forces with a master-hand. To grow in patience and poise, is to grow in strength and power; and you can only thus grow by focusing your consciousness upon a principle.

Rely upon your own judgment, be true to your own conscience, and follow the Light that is within you; all outward lights are just so many will-o'-the-wisps. There will be those who will tell you that you are foolish; that your judgment is faulty; that your conscience is all awry, and that the Light within you is darkness; but don’t listen to them for if what they say is true then the sooner you, as a searcher for wisdom, find it out the better, and you can only make the discovery by bringing your powers to the test. Therefore, pursue your course bravely.

You will have many falls, will suffer many wounds, will endure many buffetings for a time, but press on in faith, believing that sure and certain victory lies ahead. Search for a rock, a principle, and once you find it cling to it; get it under your feet and stand erect upon it, until at last, immovably fixed upon it, you succeed in defying the fury of the waves and storms of selfishness.

As you grow in spiritual life, and become established upon principles, you will become as beautiful and as unchangeable as those principles, and you will taste of the sweetness of their immortal essence.

Be Blessed

Truth

On the inner battlefield of which the fight is for the human soul, there are two masters that are ever contending for the kingship and dominion of the human heart. One is the self, also called the “Prince of this world,'' and the other is the Truth, also sometimes called “God.”

The self is that rebellious one whose weapons are passion, pride, avarice, vanity, gluttony, addiction, and ignorance. The Truth is the one whose weapons are gentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility, and love. In every soul the battle is waged, and as a soldier cannot engage simultaneously in two opposing armies, so every heart is enlisted either in the ranks of self or of Truth.

Buddha, the teacher of Truth said that “there is self and there is Truth; where self is, Truth is not, where Truth is, self is not." Jesus Christ declared that "No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other."

Truth is so simple, so absolutely undeviating and uncompromising that it admits of no complexity, no turning, and no qualification. Conversely self is vanity, crooked, governed by subtle and snaky desire admits of endless turnings and qualifications, and the deluded worshippers of self vainly imagine that they can gratify every worldly desire and that at the same time posses the truth.

The lovers of Truth worship Truth with the sacrifice of self, and ceaselessly guard themselves against worldliness and self-seeking. Do you seek to know and to realize Truth? Then you must be prepared to sacrifice, to renounce to the uttermost, for Truth in all its glory can only be perceived and known when the last vestige of self has disappeared.

Are you willing to deny yourself, to give up your lusts, your prejudices, and your opinions? If so, you may enter the narrow way of Truth, and find that peace from which the world is shut out. The absolute denial, the utter extinction, of self is the perfect state of Truth, and all religions and philosophies are but so many aids to this supreme attainment.

Self is the denial of Truth. Truth is the denial of self. As you let self die, you will be reborn in Truth. As you cling to self, Truth will be hidden from you. While you cling to self, your path will be beset with difficulties, and pain, sorrow, and disappointment will be your lot. There are no difficulties in Truth, and coming to Truth, you will be freed from all sorrow and disappointment.

Truth in itself is not hidden and dark. It is always revealed and is perfectly transparent. It is the blind and wayward self that cannot perceive it. The light of day is not hidden except to the blind, and the Light of Truth is not hidden except to those who are blinded by self.

Truth is the one Reality in the universe, the inward Harmony, the perfect Justice, the eternal Love. Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it. It does not depend upon any person, but all people depend upon it. You cannot perceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out through the eyes of self. If you are vain, you will color everything with your own vanities. If lustful, your heart and mind will be so clouded with the smoke and flames of passion, that everything will appear distorted through them. If proud and opinionative, you will see nothing in the whole universe except the magnitude and importance of your own opinions.

There is one quality which pre-eminently distinguishes the person of Truth from the person of self, and that is humility. To be free from vanity, stubbornness and egotism, this indeed is true humility, while the one who is immersed in self regards their own opinions as Truth, and the opinions of others as error. However the Truth-lover who has learned to distinguish between opinion and Truth, regards all people with the eye of charity, and does not seek to defend their opinions against others, but sacrifices those opinions that they may love the more, that one may manifest the spirit of Truth, for Truth in its very nature is beyond words and can only be lived.

People engage in heated controversies, and foolishly imagine they are defending the Truth, when in reality they are merely defending their own petty interests and opinions. The follower of self takes up arms against others. The follower of Truth takes up arms only against the self. Truth, being unchangeable and eternal, is independent of your opinion and of mine. We may enter into it, or we may stay outside; both our defense and our attack are superfluous.

People, who are enslaved by self, passionate, proud, and condemnatory, believe their particular creed or religion to be the Truth, and all other religions to be error; and they proselytize with passionate ardor. There is but one religion, the religion of Truth. There is but one error, the error of self. Truth is not a formal belief; it is an unselfish, holy, and aspiring heart, and he who has Truth is at peace with all, and cherishes all with thoughts of love.

You may easily know whether you are a child of Truth or a worshipper of self, if you will silently examine your mind, heart, and conduct. Do you harbor thoughts of suspicion, enmity, envy, and lust? If so, you are chained to self, no matter what religion you may profess. Do you continually strive to control the self and to be gentle, mild, and kind to all who cross your path? Then you are a candidate for Truth, even though outwardly you may profess no religion.

Are you passionate, self-willed, and ever seeking to gain? Do you strive for riches? Do you fight, with passion, for your party? Do you lust for power and leadership? Are you given to ostentation and self-praise? If so, even though you may imagine you worship God, the god of your heart is self.

Or have you given up the love of worldly prizes? Have you relinquished all strife? Are you content to take the lowest place, and to be passed by? Have you ceased to talk about yourself and to regard yourself with self complacent pride? If so even though you may withhold your lips from worship, you are dwelling in the Most High. The signs by which the Truth-lover is known are unmistakable.

The giving up of self is not the renunciation of outward things. It consists of the renunciation of the inward error. You will not find the Truth by giving up vain clothing, relinquishing riches, abstaining from certain foods, speaking smooth words, or praying in public. The Truth is found by giving up the spirit of vanity, by abstaining from the lust of self indulgence, and by giving up all hatred, strife, condemnation, and self-seeking, and becoming gentle and pure at heart.

To do the former, and not to do the latter, is pharisaic and hypocrisy. You may renounce the outward world, and isolate yourself in a cave or in the depths of a forest, but you will take all your selfishness with you, and unless you renounce that, great indeed will be your wretchedness and deep your delusion. You may remain just where you are, performing all your duties, and yet renounce the world; the inward enemy. To be in the world and yet not of the world is the highest perfection, the most blessed peace, it is this way that you achieve the greatest victory.

Be Blessed

True Power Defined

Many have asked what signifies achievement of true power, first let me state what it is not. It is not money, money simply does not constitute true wealth, neither does it symbolize position, or power, and to rely upon it alone is like standing upon a slippery rock; if you are not very careful you will fall.

Rather true wealth is in your stock of virtue, and your true power is the uses to which you put it. Rectify your heart, and you will rectify your life. If you suffer from lust, hatred, anger, vanity, pride, covetousness, self-indulgence, self-seeking, obstinacy, and other similar minded things then you will have poverty and weakness. Conversely if you attain love, purity, gentleness, meekness, patience, compassion, and generosity, you will attain true wealth and power.

As the elements of poverty and weakness are overcome, an irresistible and all conquering power is evolved from within, and if you succeed in establishing your self in the highest virtue, you will bring the whole world to your feet. Herein lays the secret by which all desirable conditions are secured, and all things that are undesirable are overcome.

Do you think and say that you are lonely and unloved, and have no friends? Then, for the sake of your own happiness, blame nobody but yourself. Be friendly towards others, and friends will soon flock round you. Make yourself pure and lovable, and you will be loved by all. Whatever conditions are rendering your life burdensome, you may pass out of and beyond them by developing and utilizing within you the transforming power of self purification and self conquest.

It does not matter that by the unfailing Law of karma there are past thoughts and acts to work out and to atone for, as, by the very same law, we are setting into motion, during every moment of our life, fresh thoughts and acts, and we have the power to make them for good or for ill.

If you cling to your self then you are your own enemy, and will be surrounded by enemies. The good news is that if you relinquish your self then you are free and are your own savior and will surrounded by friends like a protective belt. Before the divine radiance of a pure heart all darkness vanishes and all clouds melt away, for it is the one who has conquered their self has then conquered the universe.

So to get out of your poverty, your pain, your troubles, and sighing, and complaining, and heartaches, and loneliness, you must come out of yourself. Like the butterfly emerging from the cocoon; let the old tattered garment of your petty selfishness fall from you, and put on the new garment of universal Love. You will then realize the inward power of the universal, and it will be reflected in all of your outward life.

For if you set your foot firmly upon the path of self-conquest, and walk faithfully the path of self-development, and then you will assuredly achieve the highest prosperity, and will reap abounding and enduring joy and bliss.

Be Blessed

What You Believe is What You Are

There is a universal law that is called the Law of Reaction that says in short that what you think you do. So therefore what you think is what you are, and so is your world. Everything in the universe is resolved into your own inward experience. It matters little what is without, for it is all a reflection of your own state of consciousness.

However it does matter what you are within, for everything without will be mirrored and colored accordingly to your thoughts and how you react to the circumstances that those thoughts bring about. All that you know is contained in your own experience; all that you ever will know must pass through the gateway of personal experience, and so it becomes part of yourself.

Your own thoughts, desires, and aspirations comprise your world, and, it is a uniquely individual existence. To you all that there is in the universe of beauty and joy and bliss, or of ugliness and sorrow and pain, is contained within yourself. By your own thoughts you make or mar your life, your world, your universe.

As you build within by the power of thought so will your outward life and circumstances shape themselves as a result. Whatsoever you harbor in the inmost chambers of your heart will, sooner or later by the inevitable law of reaction, shape itself in your outward life. The soul that is impure, sordid, and selfish, is gravitating with unerring precision toward misfortune and tragedy, conversely the soul that is pure, unselfish, and noble, is gravitating with equal precision toward happiness and prosperity.

Every soul attracts what is its own, and nothing can possibly come to it that does not belong to it. To realize this is to recognize the universality of Divine Law. The incidents of every human life, which both make and mar, are drawn to it by the quality and power of its own inner thoughts. Every soul is a complex combination of gathered experiences and thoughts, and the body is but a vehicle. Therefore, what your thoughts are, that is your real self; and the world around, both animate and inanimate, displays the aspect with which your thoughts give it. In short all that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts.

So it therefore follows that if a person is happy, it is because that person dwells in happy thoughts; if miserable, it is because that person dwells in despondent and debilitating thoughts. Whether a person is fearful or fearless, foolish or wise, troubled or serene, it is within that soul that lays the cause of its own state or states, and never without.

You must understand this; and know it to be an infallible truth, that circumstances can only affect you in so far as you allow them to do so. You are swayed by circumstances because you do not have a right understanding of the nature, use, and power of thought. You believe, and upon this little word “belief” hangs all our sorrows and joys, for belief becomes repeated thought and that becomes action and this is what forms your world.

If you believe that outward things have the power to make or mar your life; by so doing you submit to those outward things, confess that you are their slave, and they your unconditional master; by so doing, you invest them with a power which they do not, of themselves, possess, and you succumb, in reality, not to the mere circumstances, but to the gloom or gladness, the fear or hope, the strength or weakness, which your thought-sphere has thrown around them.

If circumstances had the power to bless or harm, they would bless and harm all of us the same, but the fact that the same circumstances will be alike good and bad to different souls proves that the good or bad is not in the circumstance, but only in the mind that encounters it. When you begin to realize this you will begin to control your thoughts, to regulate and discipline your mind, and to rebuild the inward temple of your soul, eliminating all useless and superfluous material, and incorporating into your being thoughts alone of joy and serenity, of strength and life, of compassion and love, of beauty and immortality.

Think and believe, believe and think, be aware of the thoughts you allow to occupy your time, and so by doing this you will become joyful and serene, strong and healthy, compassionate and loving, and beautiful with the beauty of inner peace.

Be Blessed

The Necessary Evil

People suffer from many things every day; there are so many names for suffering that should they be listed it would fill a whole volume. Then continue on with the thought that we will always have to suffer, and I pose to you today this question: Is there no way of escape from pain and sorrow, are permanent happiness, prosperity, and peace only a foolish dream?

The answer is an empathetic NO. There is a way; a method that by which disease, poverty, and any adverse condition or circumstance can be put aside never to return. There is a method, by which a permanent prosperity can be secured, free from all fear of the return of adversity, and there is a practice by which unbroken and unending peace and bliss can be realized.

The beginning of the way which leads to this glorious realization is the right understanding of the nature of evil. It is not sufficient to deny or ignore evil; it must be understood. It is not enough to pray to remove the evil; you must find out why it is there, and what lesson it has for you. It is necessary that you get outside yourself, and must begin to examine and understand yourself.

The universe has a plan for you, and you must learn what it is and perform as expected. If you do not willingly attend to lessons you must learn then the experience will fall on you like punishment. In the school of experience, you must begin to learn, with humility and patience, the lessons that are set for your edification and ultimate perfection. So this leads to the conclusion that what we deem as evil, when rightly understood, is found to be, not an unlimited power or principle in the universe, but a passing phase of human experience.

Evil is not an abstract something outside yourself; it is an experience in your own heart, and by patiently examining and rectifying your heart you will be gradually led into the discovery of the origin and nature of evil, which will necessarily be followed by its complete eradication, and it therefore becomes a teacher to those who are willing to learn.

All the situations that we seem to think are evil are merely corrective and remedial, and therefore not permanent. Suffering from evil is rooted in ignorance, ignorance of the true nature and relation of things, and so long as we remain in that state of ignorance, we remain subject to evil. There is no evil in the universe which is not the result of ignorance, and which would not, if we were ready and willing to learn its lesson, lead us to higher wisdom, and then vanish away.

Unfortunately people continue to suffer from evil, and it just won’t go away because we are not willing or prepared to learn the lesson which it came to teach us. So we ask “why pass through the darkness of evil at all?" Because, by ignorance, you have chosen to do so, and because, by doing so, you may under- stand both good and evil, and may the more appreciate the light by having passed through the darkness.

All evil is the direct result of ignorance, so, when the lessons of evil are fully learned, ignorance passes away, and wisdom takes its place. Yet we are like a disobedient child who refuses to learn its lessons, so it comes to a point where if the lesson is not learned voluntarily then it must be learned through harsh experience. Those who refuse to learn and to remain in continual ignorance will suffer continually recurring punishments in the form of disease, sorrow, disappointment, and unrest.

So if you would shake yourself free of the evil which seems to surround you, then you must be willing and ready to learn, and you must be mentally prepared to undergo the process through which wisdom, happiness and peace can be secured.

You can shut yourself into a dark room, and deny that the light exists, but it still exists even without you. So in a similar way you may shut out the light of truth, and in doing so subject yourself to the necessary harsh lessons that you will soon face. Instead you should pull down the walls of prejudice, self-seeking and error which you have built around yourself, and so let in the glorious and omnipresent light of the truth.

It is a comprehensive study of your inner self that will help you to realize, and not merely hold as a theory, that evil is a passing phase, a self created shadow; that all your pains, sorrows and misfortunes have come to you by a process of undeviating and absolutely perfect law, and have come to you because you deserve and require them, so that by first enduring, and then understanding them, you will be made stronger, wiser, and nobler.

When you have fully entered into this realization, you will be in a position to mould your own circumstances, to transmute all evil into good and to weave the very fabric of your destiny.

Be Blessed