{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10740/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10740","id":"gutenberg_10740","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10740","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Conduct of life","Meditations","New Thought"],"text":"THE WAY OF PEACE\n\n\nBY JAMES ALLEN\n\n\nAUTHOR OF \"AS A MAN THINKETH,\" \"OUT FROM THE HEART\"\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE POWER OF MEDITATION\n\nTHE TWO MASTERS, SELF AND TRUTH\n\nTHE ACQUIREMENT OF SPIRITUAL POWER\n\nTHE REALIZATION OF SELFLESS LOVE\n\nENTERING INTO THE INFINITE\n\nSAINTS, SAGES, AND SAVIORS; THE LAW OF SERVICE\n\nTHE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE\n\n\n\n\nTHE POWER OF MEDITATION\n\n\nSpiritual meditation is the pathway to Divinity. It is the mystic ladder\nwhich reaches from earth to heaven, from error to Truth, from pain to\npeace. Every saint has climbed it; every sinner must sooner or later come\nto it, and every weary pilgrim that turns his back upon self and the world,\nand sets his face resolutely toward the Father's Home, must plant his feet\nupon its golden rounds. Without its aid you cannot grow into the divine\nstate, the divine likeness, the divine peace, and the fadeless glories and\nunpolluting joys of Truth will remain hidden from you.\n\nMeditation is the intense dwelling, in thought, upon an idea or theme, with\nthe object of thoroughly comprehending it, and whatsoever you constantly\nmeditate upon you will not only come to understand, but will grow more and\nmore into its likeness, for it will become incorporated into your very\nbeing, will become, in fact, your very self. If, therefore, you constantly\ndwell upon that which is selfish and debasing, you will ultimately become\nselfish and debased; if you ceaselessly think upon that which is pure and\nunselfish you will surely become pure and unselfish.\n\nTell me what that is upon which you most frequently and intensely think,\nthat to which, in your silent hours, your soul most naturally turns, and I\nwill tell you to what place of pain or peace you are traveling, and whether\nyou are growing into the likeness of the divine or the bestial.\n\nThere is an unavoidable tendency to become literally the embodiment of that\nquality upon which one most constantly thinks. Let, therefore, the object\nof your meditation be above and not below, so that every time you revert to\nit in thought you will be lifted up; let it be pure and unmixed with any\nselfish element; so shall your heart become purified and drawn nearer to\nTruth, and not defiled and dragged more hopelessly into error.\n\nMeditation, in the spiritual sense in which I am now using it, is the\nsecret of all growth in spiritual life and knowledge. Every prophet, sage,\nand savior became such by the power of meditation. Buddha meditated upon\nthe Truth until he could say, \"I am the Truth.\" Jesus brooded upon the\nDivine immanence until at last he could declare, \"I and my Father are One.\"\n\nMeditation centered upon divine realities is the very essence and soul of\nprayer. It is the silent reaching of the soul toward the Eternal. Mere\npetitionary prayer without meditation is a body without a soul, and is\npowerless to lift the mind and heart above sin and affliction. If you are\ndaily praying for wisdom, for peace, for loftier purity and a fuller\nrealization of Truth, and that for which you pray is still far from you, it\nmeans that you are praying for one thing while living out in thought and\nact another. If you will cease from such waywardness, taking your mind off\nthose things the selfish clinging to which debars you from the possession\nof the stainless realities for which you pray: if you will no longer ask\nGod to grant you that which you do not deserve, or to bestow upon you that\nlove and compassion which you refuse to bestow upon others, but will\ncommence to think and act in the spirit of Truth, you will day by day be\ngrowing into those realities, so that ultimately you will become one with\nthem.\n\nHe who would secure any worldly advantage must be willing to work\nvigorously for it, and he would be foolish indeed who, waiting with folded\nhands, expected it to come to him for the mere asking. Do not then vainly\nimagine that you can obtain the heavenly possessions without making an\neffort. Only when you commence to work earnestly in the Kingdom of Truth\nwill you be allowed to partake of the Bread of Life, and when you have, by\npatient and uncomplaining effort, earned the spiritual wages for which you\nask, they will not be withheld from you.\n\nIf you really seek Truth, and not merely your own gratification; if you\nlove it above all worldly pleasures and gains; more, even, than happiness\nitself, you will be willing to make the effort necessary for its\nachievement.\n\nIf you would be freed from sin and sorrow; if you would taste of that\nspotless purity for which you sigh and pray; if you would realize wisdom\nand knowledge, and would enter into the possession of profound and abiding\npeace, come now and enter the path of meditation, and let the supreme\nobject of your meditation be Truth.\n\nAt the outset, meditation must be distinguished from _idle reverie_. There\nis nothing dreamy and unpractical about it. It is _a process of searching\nand uncompromising thought which allows nothing to remain but the simple\nand naked truth_. Thus meditating you will no longer strive to build\nyourself up in your prejudices, but, forgetting self, you will remember\nonly that you are seeking the Truth. And so you will remove, one by one,\nthe errors which you have built around yourself in the past, and will\npatiently wait for the revelation of Truth which will come when your errors\nhave been sufficiently removed. In the silent humility of your heart you\nwill realize that\n\n    \"There is an inmost centre in us all\n    Where Truth abides in fulness; and around,\n    Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in;\n    This perfect, clear perception, which is Truth,\n    A baffling and perverting carnal mesh\n    Blinds it, and makes all error; and to know,\n    Rather consists in opening out a way\n    Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape,\n    Than in effecting entry for a light\n    Supposed to be without.\"\n\nSelect some portion of the day in which to meditate, and keep that period\nsacred to your purpose. The best time is the very early morning when the\nspirit of repose is upon everything. All natural conditions will then be in\nyour favor; the passions, after the long bodily fast of the night, will be\nsubdued, the excitements and worries of the previous day will have died\naway, and the mind, strong and yet restful, will be receptive to spiritual\ninstruction. Indeed, one of the first efforts you will be called upon to\nmake will be to shake off lethargy and indulgence, and if you refuse you\nwill be unable to advance, for the demands of the spirit are imperative.\n\nTo be spiritually awakened is also to be mentally and physically awakened.\nThe sluggard and the self-indulgent can have no knowledge of Truth. He who,\npossessed of health and strength, wastes the calm, precious hours of the\nsilent morning in drowsy indulgence is totally unfit to climb the heavenly\nheights.\n\nHe whose awakening consciousness has become alive to its lofty\npossibilities, who is beginning to shake off the darkness of ignorance in\nwhich the world is enveloped, rises before the stars have ceased their\nvigil, and, grappling with the darkness within his soul, strives, by holy\naspiration, to perceive the light of Truth while the unawakened world\ndreams on.\n\n    \"The heights by great men reached and kept,\n      Were not attained by sudden flight,\n    But they, while their companions slept,\n      Were toiling upward in the night.\"\n\nNo saint, no holy man, no teacher of Truth ever lived who did not rise\nearly in the morning. Jesus habitually rose early, and climbed the solitary\nmountains to engage in holy communion. Buddha always rose an hour before\nsunrise and engaged in meditation, and all his disciples were enjoined to\ndo the same.\n\nIf you have to commence your daily duties at a very early hour, and are\nthus debarred from giving the early morning to systematic meditation, try\nto give an hour at night, and should this, by the length and laboriousness\nof your daily task be denied you, you need not despair, for you may turn\nyour thoughts upward in holy meditation in the intervals of your work, or\nin those few idle minutes which you now waste in aimlessness; and should\nyour work be of that kind which becomes by practice automatic, you may\nmeditate while engaged upon it. That eminent Christian saint and\nphilosopher, Jacob Boehme, realized his vast knowledge of divine things\nwhilst working long hours as a shoemaker. In every life there is time to\nthink, and the busiest, the most laborious is not shut out from aspiration\nand meditation.\n\nSpiritual meditation and self-discipline are inseparable; you will,\ntherefore, commence to meditate upon yourself so as to try and understand\nyourself, for, remember, the great object you will have in view will be the\ncomplete removal of all your errors in order that you may realize Truth.\nYou will begin to question your motives, thoughts, and acts, comparing them\nwith your ideal, and endeavoring to look upon them with a calm and\nimpartial eye. In this manner you will be continually gaining more of that\nmental and spiritual equilibrium without which men are but helpless straws\nupon the ocean of life. If you are given to hatred or anger you will\nmeditate upon gentleness and forgiveness, so as to become acutely alive to\na sense of your harsh and foolish conduct. You will then begin to dwell in\nthoughts of love, of gentleness, of abounding forgiveness; and as you\novercome the lower by the higher, there will gradually, silently steal into\nyour heart a knowledge of the divine Law of Love with an understanding of\nits bearing upon all the intricacies of life and conduct. And in applying\nthis knowledge to your every thought, word, and act, you will grow more and\nmore gentle, more and more loving, more and more divine. And thus with\nevery error, every selfish desire, every human weakness; by the power of\nmeditation is it overcome, and as each sin, each error is thrust out, a\nfuller and clearer measure of the Light of Truth illumines the pilgrim\nsoul.\n\nThus meditating, you will be ceaselessly fortifying yourself against your\nonly _real_ enemy, your selfish, perishable self, and will be establishing\nyourself more and more firmly in the divine and imperishable self that is\ninseparable from Truth. The direct outcome of your meditations will be a\ncalm, spiritual strength which will be your stay and resting-place in the\nstruggle of life. Great is the overcoming power of holy thought, and the\nstrength and knowledge gained in the hour of silent meditation will enrich\nthe soul with saving remembrance in the hour of strife, of sorrow, or of\ntemptation.\n\nAs, by the power of meditation, you grow in wisdom, you will relinquish,\nmore and more, your selfish desires which are fickle, impermanent, and\nproductive of sorrow and pain; and will take your stand, with increasing\nsteadfastness and trust, upon unchangeable principles, and will realize\nheavenly rest.\n\nThe use of meditation is the acquirement of a knowledge of eternal\nprinciples, and the power which results from meditation is the ability to\nrest upon and trust those principles, and so become one with the Eternal.\nThe end of meditation is, therefore, direct knowledge of Truth, God, and\nthe realization of divine and profound peace.\n\nLet your meditations take their rise from the ethical ground which you now\noccupy. Remember that you are to _grow_ into Truth by steady perseverance.\nIf you are an orthodox Christian, meditate ceaselessly upon the spotless\npurity and divine excellence of the character of Jesus, and apply his every\nprecept to your inner life and outward conduct, so as to approximate more\nand more toward his perfection. Do not be as those religious ones, who,\nrefusing to meditate upon the Law of Truth, and to put into practice the\nprecepts given to them by their Master, are content to formally worship, to\ncling to their particular creeds, and to continue in the ceaseless round of\nsin and suffering. Strive to rise, by the power of meditation, above all\nselfish clinging to partial gods or party creeds; above dead formalities\nand lifeless ignorance. Thus walking the high way of wisdom, with mind\nfixed upon the spotless Truth, you shall know no halting-place short of the\nrealization of Truth.\n\nHe who earnestly meditates first perceives a truth, as it were, afar off,\nand then realizes it by daily practice. It is only the doer of the Word of\nTruth that can know of the doctrine of Truth, for though by pure thought\nthe Truth is perceived, it is only actualized by practice.\n\nSaid the divine Gautama, the Buddha, \"He who gives himself up to vanity,\nand does not give himself up to meditation, forgetting the real aim of life\nand grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him who has exerted himself in\nmeditation,\" and he instructed his disciples in the following \"Five Great\nMeditations\":--\n\n\"The first meditation is the meditation of love, in which you so adjust\nyour heart that you long for the weal and welfare of all beings, including\nthe happiness of your enemies.\n\n\"The second meditation is the meditation of pity, in which you think of all\nbeings in distress, vividly representing in your imagination their sorrows\nand anxieties so as to arouse a deep compassion for them in your soul.\n\n\"The third meditation is the meditation of joy, in which you think of the\nprosperity of others, and rejoice with their rejoicings.\n\n\"The fourth meditation is the meditation of impurity, in which you consider\nthe evil consequences of corruption, the effects of sin and diseases. How\ntrivial often the pleasure of the moment, and how fatal its consequences.\n\n\"The fifth meditation is the meditation on serenity, in which you rise\nabove love and hate, tyranny and oppression, wealth and want, and regard\nyour own fate with impartial calmness and perfect tranquillity.\"\n\nBy engaging in these meditations the disciples of the Buddha arrived at a\nknowledge of the Truth. But whether you engage in these particular\nmeditations or not matters little so long as your object is Truth, so long\nas you hunger and thirst for that righteousness which is a holy heart and a\nblameless life. In your meditations, therefore, let your heart grow and\nexpand with ever-broadening love, until, freed from all hatred, and\npassion, and condemnation, it embraces the whole universe with thoughtful\ntenderness. As the flower opens its petals to receive the morning light, so\nopen your soul more and more to the glorious light of Truth. Soar upward\nupon the wings of aspiration; be fearless, and believe in the loftiest\npossibilities. Believe that a life of absolute meekness is possible;\nbelieve that a life of stainless purity is possible; believe that a life of\nperfect holiness is possible; believe that the realization of the highest\ntruth is possible. He who so believes, climbs rapidly the heavenly hills,\nwhilst the unbelievers continue to grope darkly and painfully in the\nfog-bound valleys.\n\nSo believing, so aspiring, so meditating, divinely sweet and beautiful will\nbe your spiritual experiences, and glorious the revelations that will\nenrapture your inward vision. As you realize the divine Love, the divine\nJustice, the divine Purity, the Perfect Law of Good, or God, great will be\nyour bliss and deep your peace. Old things will pass away, and all things\nwill become new. The veil of the material universe, so dense and\nimpenetrable to the eye of error, so thin and gauzy to the eye of Truth,\nwill be lifted and the spiritual universe will be revealed. Time will\ncease, and you will live only in Eternity. Change and mortality will no\nmore cause you anxiety and sorrow, for you will become established in the\nunchangeable, and will dwell in the very heart of immortality.\n\n\n\n\nSTAR OF WISDOM\n\n    Star that of the birth of Vishnu,\n    Birth of Krishna, Buddha, Jesus,\n    Told the wise ones, Heavenward looking,\n    Waiting, watching for thy gleaming\n    In the darkness of the night-time,\n    In the starless gloom of midnight;\n    Shining Herald of the coming\n    Of the kingdom of the righteous;\n    Teller of the Mystic story\n    Of the lowly birth of Godhead\n    In the stable of the passions,\n    In the manger of the mind-soul;\n    Silent singer of the secret\n    Of compassion deep and holy\n    To the heart with sorrow burdened,\n    To the soul with waiting weary:--\n    Star of all-surpassing brightness,\n    Thou again dost deck the midnight;\n    Thou again dost cheer the wise ones\n    Watching in the creedal darkness,\n    Weary of the endless battle\n    With the grinding blades of error;\n    Tired of lifeless, useless idols,\n    Of the dead forms of religions;\n    Spent with watching for thy shining;\n    Thou hast ended their despairing;\n    Thou hast lighted up their pathway;\n    Thou hast brought again the old Truths\n    To the hearts of all thy Watchers;\n    To the souls of them that love thee\n    Thou dost speak of Joy and Gladness,\n    Of the peace that comes of Sorrow.\n    Blessed are they that can see thee,\n    Weary wanderers in the Night-time;\n    Blessed they who feel the throbbing,\n    In their bosoms feel the pulsing\n    Of a deep Love stirred within them\n    By the great power of thy shining.\n    Let us learn thy lesson truly;\n    Learn it faithfully and humbly;\n    Learn it meekly, wisely, gladly,\n    Ancient Star of holy Vishnu,\n    Light of Krishna, Buddha, Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TWO MASTERS, SELF AND TRUTH\n\n\nUpon the battlefield of the human soul two masters are ever contending for\nthe crown of supremacy, for the kingship and dominion of the heart; the\nmaster of self, called also the \"Prince of this world,\" and the master of\nTruth, called also the Father God. The master self is that rebellious one\nwhose weapons are passion, pride, avarice, vanity, self-will, implements of\ndarkness; the master Truth is that meek and lowly one whose weapons are\ngentleness, patience, purity, sacrifice, humility, love, instruments of\nLight.\n\nIn every soul the battle is waged, and as a soldier cannot engage at once\nin two opposing armies, so every heart is enlisted either in the ranks of\nself or of Truth. There is no half-and-half course; \"There is self and\nthere is Truth; where self is, Truth is not, where Truth is, self is not.\"\nThus spake Buddha, the teacher of Truth, and Jesus, the manifested Christ,\ndeclared that \"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the\none and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the\nother. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.\"\n\nTruth is so simple, so absolutely undeviating and uncompromising that it\nadmits of no complexity, no turning, no qualification. Self is ingenious,\ncrooked, and, governed by subtle and snaky desire, admits of endless\nturnings and qualifications, and the deluded worshipers of self vainly\nimagine that they can gratify every worldly desire, and at the same time\npossess the Truth. But the lovers of Truth worship Truth with the sacrifice\nof self, and ceaselessly guard themselves against worldliness and\nself-seeking.\n\nDo you seek to know and to realize Truth? Then you must be prepared to\nsacrifice, to renounce to the uttermost, for Truth in all its glory can\nonly be perceived and known when the last vestige of self has disappeared.\n\nThe eternal Christ declared that he who would be His disciple must \"deny\nhimself daily.\" Are you willing to deny yourself, to give up your lusts,\nyour prejudices, your opinions? If so, you may enter the narrow way of\nTruth, and find that peace from which the world is shut out. The absolute\ndenial, the utter extinction, of self is the perfect state of Truth, and\nall religions and philosophies are but so many aids to this supreme\nattainment.\n\nSelf is the denial of Truth. Truth is the denial of self. As you let self\ndie, you will be reborn in Truth. As you cling to self, Truth will be\nhidden from you.\n\nWhilst you cling to self, your path will be beset with difficulties, and\nrepeated pains, sorrows, and disappointments will be your lot. There are no\ndifficulties in Truth, and coming to Truth, you will be freed from all\nsorrow and disappointment.\n\nTruth in itself is not hidden and dark. It is always revealed and is\nperfectly transparent. But the blind and wayward self cannot perceive it.\nThe light of day is not hidden except to the blind, and the Light of Truth\nis not hidden except to those who are blinded by self.\n\nTruth is the one Reality in the universe, the inward Harmony, the perfect\nJustice, the eternal Love. Nothing can be added to it, nor taken from it.\nIt does not depend upon any man, but all men depend upon it. You cannot\nperceive the beauty of Truth while you are looking out through the eyes of\nself. If you are vain, you will color everything with your own vanities. If\nlustful, your heart and mind will be so clouded with the smoke and flames\nof passion, that everything will appear distorted through them. If proud\nand opinionative, you will see nothing in the whole universe except the\nmagnitude and importance of your own opinions.\n\nThere is one quality which pre-eminently distinguishes the man of Truth\nfrom the man of self, and that is _humility_. To be not only free from\nvanity, stubbornness and egotism, but to regard one's own opinions as of no\nvalue, this indeed is true humility.\n\nHe who is immersed in self regards his own opinions as Truth, and the\nopinions of other men as error. But that humble Truth-lover who has learned\nto distinguish between opinion and Truth, regards all men with the eye of\ncharity, and does not seek to defend his opinions against theirs, but\nsacrifices those opinions that he may love the more, that he may manifest\nthe spirit of Truth, for Truth in its very nature is ineffable and can only\nbe lived. He who has most of charity has most of Truth.\n\nMen engage in heated controversies, and foolishly imagine they are\ndefending the Truth, when in reality they are merely defending their own\npetty interests and perishable opinions. The follower of self takes up arms\nagainst others. The follower of Truth takes up arms against himself. Truth,\nbeing unchangeable and eternal, is independent of your opinion and of mine.\nWe may enter into it, or we may stay outside; but both our defense and our\nattack are superfluous, and are hurled back upon ourselves.\n\nMen, enslaved by self, passionate, proud, and condemnatory, believe their\nparticular creed or religion to be the Truth, and all other religions to be\nerror; and they proselytize with passionate ardor. There is but one\nreligion, the religion of Truth. There is but one error, the error of self.\nTruth is not a formal belief; it is an unselfish, holy, and aspiring heart,\nand he who has Truth is at peace with all, and cherishes all with thoughts\nof love.\n\nYou may easily know whether you are a child of Truth or a worshiper of\nself, if you will silently examine your mind, heart, and conduct. Do you\nharbor thoughts of suspicion, enmity, envy, lust, pride, or do you\nstrenuously fight against these? If the former, you are chained to self, no\nmatter what religion you may profess; if the latter, you are a candidate\nfor Truth, even though outwardly you may profess no religion. Are you\npassionate, self-willed, ever seeking to gain your own ends,\nself-indulgent, and self-centered; or are you gentle, mild, unselfish, quit\nof every form of self-indulgence, and are ever ready to give up your own?\nIf the former, self is your master; if the latter, Truth is the object of\nyour affection. Do you strive for riches? Do you fight, with passion, for\nyour party? Do you lust for power and leadership? Are you given to\nostentation and self-praise? Or have you given up the love of riches? Have\nyou relinquished all strife? Are you content to take the lowest place, and\nto be passed by unnoticed? And have you ceased to talk about yourself and\nto regard yourself with self-complacent pride? If the former, even though\nyou may imagine you worship God, the god of your heart is self. If the\nlatter, even though you may withhold your lips from worship, you are\ndwelling with the Most High.\n\nThe signs by which the Truth-lover is known are unmistakable. Hear the Holy\nKrishna declare them, in Sir Edwin Arnold's beautiful rendering of the\n\"Bhagavad Gita\":--\n\n    \"Fearlessness, singleness of soul, the will\n    Always to strive for wisdom; opened hand\n    And governed appetites; and piety,\n    And love of lonely study; humbleness,\n    Uprightness, heed to injure nought which lives\n    Truthfulness, slowness unto wrath, a mind\n    That lightly letteth go what others prize;\n    And equanimity, and charity\n    Which spieth no man's faults; and tenderness\n    Towards all that suffer; a contented heart,\n    Fluttered by no desires; a bearing mild,\n    Modest and grave, with manhood nobly mixed,\n    With patience, fortitude and purity;\n    An unrevengeful spirit, never given\n    To rate itself too high--such be the signs,\n    O Indian Prince! of him whose feet are set\n    On that fair path which leads to heavenly birth!\"\n\nWhen men, lost in the devious ways of error and self, have forgotten the\n\"heavenly birth,\" the state of holiness and Truth, they set up artificial\nstandards by which to judge one another, and make acceptance of, and\nadherence to, their own particular theology, the test of Truth; and so men\nare divided one against another, and there is ceaseless enmity and strife,\nand unending sorrow and suffering.\n\nReader, do you seek to realize the birth into Truth? There is only one way:\n_Let self die_. All those lusts, appetites, desires, opinions, limited\nconceptions and prejudices to which you have hitherto so tenaciously clung,\nlet them fall from you. Let them no longer hold you in bondage, and Truth\nwill be yours. Cease to look upon your own religion as superior to all\nothers, and strive humbly to learn the supreme lesson of charity. No longer\ncling to the idea, so productive of strife and sorrow, that the Savior whom\nyou worship is the only Savior, and that the Savior whom your brother\nworships with equal sincerity and ardor, is an impostor; but seek\ndiligently the path of holiness, and then you will realize that every holy\nman is a savior of mankind.\n\nThe giving up of self is not merely the renunciation of outward things. It\nconsists of the renunciation of the inward sin, the inward error. Not by\ngiving up vain clothing; not by relinquishing riches; not by abstaining\nfrom certain foods; not by speaking smooth words; not by merely doing these\nthings is the Truth found; but by giving up the spirit of vanity; by\nrelinquishing the desire for riches; by abstaining from the lust of\nself-indulgence; by giving up all hatred, strife, condemnation, and\nself-seeking, and becoming gentle and pure at heart; by doing these things\nis the Truth found. To do the former, and not to do the latter, is\npharisaism and hypocrisy, whereas the latter includes the former. You may\nrenounce the outward world, and isolate yourself in a cave or in the depths\nof a forest, but you will take all your selfishness with you, and unless\nyou renounce that, great indeed will be your wretchedness and deep your\ndelusion. You may remain just where you are, performing all your duties,\nand yet renounce the world, the inward enemy. To be in the world and yet\nnot of the world is the highest perfection, the most blessed peace, is to\nachieve the greatest victory. The renunciation of self is the way of Truth,\ntherefore,\n\n    \"Enter the Path; there is no grief like hate,\n      No pain like passion, no deceit like sense;\n    Enter the Path; far hath he gone whose foot\n      Treads down one fond offense.\"\n\nAs you succeed in overcoming self you will begin to see things in their\nright relations. He who is swayed by any passion, prejudice, like or\ndislike, adjusts everything to that particular bias, and sees only his own\ndelusions. He who is absolutely free from all passion, prejudice,\npreference, and partiality, sees himself as he is; sees others as they are;\nsees all things in their proper proportions and right relations. Having\nnothing to attack, nothing to defend, nothing to conceal, and no interests\nto guard, he is at peace. He has realized the profound simplicity of Truth,\nfor this unbiased, tranquil, blessed state of mind and heart is the state\nof Truth. He who attains to it dwells with the angels, and sits at the\nfootstool of the Supreme. Knowing the Great Law; knowing the origin of\nsorrow; knowing the secret of suffering; knowing the way of emancipation in\nTruth, how can such a one engage in strife or condemnation; for though he\nknows that the blind, self-seeking world, surrounded with the clouds of its\nown illusions, and enveloped in the darkness of error and self, cannot\nperceive the steadfast Light of Truth, and is utterly incapable of\ncomprehending the profound simplicity of the heart that has died, or is\ndying, to self, yet he also knows that when the suffering ages have piled\nup mountains of sorrow, the crushed and burdened soul of the world will fly\nto its final refuge, and that when the ages are completed, every prodigal\nwill come back to the fold of Truth. And so he dwells in goodwill toward\nall, and regards all with that tender compassion which a father bestows\nupon his wayward children.\n\nMen cannot understand Truth because they cling to self, because they\nbelieve in and love self, because they believe self to be the only reality,\nwhereas it is the one delusion.\n\nWhen you cease to believe in and love self you will desert it, and will fly\nto Truth, and will find the eternal Reality.\n\nWhen men are intoxicated with the wines of luxury, and pleasure, and\nvanity, the thirst of life grows and deepens within them, and they delude\nthemselves with dreams of fleshly immortality, but when they come to reap\nthe harvest of their own sowing, and pain and sorrow supervene, then,\ncrushed and humiliated, relinquishing self and all the intoxications of\nself, they come, with aching hearts to the one immortality, the immortality\nthat destroys all delusions, the spiritual immortality in Truth.\n\nMen pass from evil to good, from self to Truth, through the dark gate of\nsorrow, for sorrow and self are inseparable. Only in the peace and bliss of\nTruth is all sorrow vanquished. If you suffer disappointment because your\ncherished plans have been thwarted, or because someone has not come up to\nyour anticipations, it is because you are clinging to self. If you suffer\nremorse for your conduct, it is because you have given way to self. If you\nare overwhelmed with chagrin and regret because of the attitude of someone\nelse toward you, it is because you have been cherishing self. If you are\nwounded on account of what has been done to you or said of you, it is\nbecause you are walking in the painful way of self. All suffering is of\nself. All suffering ends in Truth. When you have entered into and realized\nTruth, you will no longer suffer disappointment, remorse, and regret, and\nsorrow will flee from you.\n\n    \"Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul;\n    Truth is the only angel that can bid the gates unroll;\n    And when he comes to call thee, arise and follow fast;\n    His way may lie through darkness, but it leads to light at last.\"\n\nThe woe of the world is of its own making. Sorrow purifies and deepens the\nsoul, and the extremity of sorrow is the prelude to Truth.\n\nHave you suffered much? Have you sorrowed deeply? Have you pondered\nseriously upon the problem of life? If so, you are prepared to wage war\nagainst self, and to become a disciple of Truth.\n\nThe intellectual who do not see the necessity for giving up self, frame\nendless theories about the universe, and call them Truth; but do thou\npursue that direct line of conduct which is the practice of righteousness,\nand thou wilt realize the Truth which has no place in theory, and which\nnever changes. Cultivate your heart. Water it continually with unselfish\nlove and deep-felt pity, and strive to shut out from it all thoughts and\nfeelings which are not in accordance with Love. Return good for evil, love\nfor hatred, gentleness for ill-treatment, and remain silent when attacked.\nSo shall you transmute all your selfish desires into the pure gold of Love,\nand self will disappear in Truth. So will you walk blamelessly among men,\nyoked with the easy yoke of lowliness, and clothed with the divine garment\nof humility.\n\n    O come, weary brother! thy struggling and striving\n      End thou in the heart of the Master of ruth;\n    Across self's drear desert why wilt thou be driving,\n      Athirst for the quickening waters of Truth\n\n    When here, by the path of thy searching and sinning,\n      Flows Life's gladsome stream, lies Love's oasis green?\n    Come, turn thou and rest; know the end and beginning,\n      The sought and the searcher, the seer and seen.\n\n    Thy Master sits not in the unapproached mountains,\n      Nor dwells in the mirage which floats on the air,\n    Nor shalt thou discover His magical fountains\n      In pathways of sand that encircle despair.\n\n    In selfhood's dark desert cease wearily seeking\n      The odorous tracks of the feet of thy King;\n    And if thou wouldst hear the sweet sound of His speaking,\n      Be deaf to all voices that emptily sing.\n\n    Flee the vanishing places; renounce all thou hast;\n      Leave all that thou lovest, and, naked and bare,\n    Thyself at the shrine of the _Innermost_ cast;\n      The Highest, the Holiest, the Changeless is there.\n\n    Within, in the heart of the Silence He dwelleth;\n      Leave sorrow and sin, leave thy wanderings sore;\n    Come bathe in His Joy, whilst He, whispering, telleth\n      Thy soul what it seeketh, and wander no more.\n\n    Then cease, weary brother, thy struggling and striving;\n      Find peace in the heart of the Master of ruth.\n    Across self's dark desert cease wearily driving;\n      Come; drink at the beautiful waters of Truth.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ACQUIREMENT OF SPIRITUAL POWER\n\n\nThe world is filled with men and women seeking pleasure, excitement,\nnovelty; seeking ever to be moved to laughter or tears; not seeking\nstrength, stability, and power; but courting weakness, and eagerly engaged\nin dispersing what power they have.\n\nMen and women of real power and influence are few, because few are prepared\nto make the sacrifice necessary to the acquirement of power, and fewer\nstill are ready to patiently build up character.\n\nTo be swayed by your fluctuating thoughts and impulses is to be weak and\npowerless; to rightly control and direct those forces is to be strong and\npowerful. Men of strong animal passions have much of the ferocity of the\nbeast, but this is not power. The elements of power are there; but it is\nonly when this ferocity is tamed and subdued by the higher intelligence\nthat real power begins; and men can only grow in power by awakening\nthemselves to higher and ever higher states of intelligence and\nconsciousness.\n\nThe difference between a man of weakness and one of power lies not in the\nstrength of the personal will (for the stubborn man is usually weak and\nfoolish), but in that focus of consciousness which represents their states\nof knowledge.\n\nThe pleasure-seekers, the lovers of excitement, the hunters after novelty,\nand the victims of impulse and hysterical emotion lack that knowledge of\nprinciples which gives balance, stability, and influence.\n\nA man commences to develop power when, checking his impulses and selfish\ninclinations, he falls back upon the higher and calmer consciousness within\nhim, and begins to steady himself upon a principle. The realization of\nunchanging principles in consciousness is at once the source and secret of\nthe highest power.\n\nWhen, after much searching, and suffering, and sacrificing, the light of an\neternal principle dawns upon the soul, a divine calm ensues and joy\nunspeakable gladdens the heart.\n\nHe who has realized such a principle ceases to wander, and remains poised\nand self-possessed. He ceases to be \"passion's slave,\" and becomes a\nmaster-builder in the Temple of Destiny.\n\nThe man that is governed by self, and not by a principle, changes his front\nwhen his selfish comforts are threatened. Deeply intent upon defending and\nguarding his own interests, he regards all means as lawful that will\nsubserve that end. He is continually scheming as to how he may protect\nhimself against his enemies, being too self-centered to perceive that he is\nhis own enemy. Such a man's work crumbles away, for it is divorced from\nTruth and power. All effort that is grounded upon self, perishes; only that\nwork endures that is built upon an indestructible principle.\n\nThe man that stands upon a principle is the same calm, dauntless,\nself-possessed man under all circumstances. When the hour of trial comes,\nand he has to decide between his personal comforts and Truth, he gives up\nhis comforts and remains firm. Even the prospect of torture and death\ncannot alter or deter him. The man of self regards the loss of his wealth,\nhis comforts, or his life as the greatest calamities which can befall him.\nThe man of principle looks upon these incidents as comparatively\ninsignificant, and not to be weighed with loss of character, loss of Truth.\nTo desert Truth is, to him, the only happening which can really be called a\ncalamity.\n\nIt is the hour of crisis which decides who are the minions of darkness, and\nwho the children of Light. It is the epoch of threatening disaster, ruin,\nand persecution which divides the sheep from the goats, and reveals to the\nreverential gaze of succeeding ages the men and women of power.\n\nIt is easy for a man, so long as he is left in the enjoyment of his\npossessions, to persuade himself that he believes in and adheres to the\nprinciples of Peace, Brotherhood, and Universal Love; but if, when his\nenjoyments are threatened, or he imagines they are threatened, he begins to\nclamor loudly for war, he shows that he believes in and stands upon, not\nPeace, Brotherhood, and Love, but strife, selfishness, and hatred.\n\nHe who does not desert his principles when threatened with the loss of\nevery earthly thing, even to the loss of reputation and life, is the man of\npower; is the man whose every word and work endures; is the man whom the\nafterworld honors, reveres, and worships. Rather than desert that principle\nof Divine Love on which he rested, and in which all his trust was placed,\nJesus endured the utmost extremity of agony and deprivation; and today the\nworld prostrates itself at his pierced feet in rapt adoration.\n\nThere is no way to the acquirement of spiritual power except by that inward\nillumination and enlightenment which is the realization of spiritual\nprinciples; and those principles can only be realized by constant practice\nand application.\n\nTake the principle of divine Love, and quietly and diligently meditate upon\nit with the object of arriving at a thorough understanding of it. Bring its\nsearching light to bear upon all your habits, your actions, your speech and\nintercourse with others, your every secret thought and desire. As you\npersevere in this course, the divine Love will become more and more\nperfectly revealed to you, and your own shortcomings will stand out in more\nand more vivid contrast, spurring you on to renewed endeavor; and having\nonce caught a glimpse of the incomparable majesty of that imperishable\nprinciple, you will never again rest in your weakness, your selfishness,\nyour imperfection, but will pursue that Love until you have relinquished\nevery discordant element, and have brought yourself into perfect harmony\nwith it. And that state of inward harmony is spiritual power. Take also\nother spiritual principles, such as Purity and Compassion, and apply them\nin the same way, and, so exacting is Truth, you will be able to make no\nstay, no resting-place until the inmost garment of your soul is bereft of\nevery stain, and your heart has become incapable of any hard, condemnatory,\nand pitiless impulse.\n\nOnly in so far as you understand, realize, and rely upon, these principles,\nwill you acquire spiritual power, and that power will be manifested in and\nthrough you in the form of increasing dispassion, patience and equanimity.\n\nDispassion argues superior self-control; sublime patience is the very\nhall-mark of divine knowledge, and to retain an unbroken calm amid all the\nduties and distractions of life, marks off the man of power. \"It is easy in\nthe world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live\nafter our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps\nwith perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.\"\n\nSome mystics hold that perfection in dispassion is the source of that power\nby which miracles (so-called) are performed, and truly he who has gained\nsuch perfect control of all his interior forces that no shock, however\ngreat, can for one moment unbalance him, must be capable of guiding and\ndirecting those forces with a master-hand.\n\nTo grow in self-control, in patience, in equanimity, is to grow in strength\nand power; and you can only thus grow by focusing your consciousness upon a\nprinciple. As a child, after making many and vigorous attempts to walk\nunaided, at last succeeds, after numerous falls, in accomplishing this, so\nyou must enter the way of power by first attempting to stand alone. Break\naway from the tyranny of custom, tradition, conventionality, and the\nopinions of others, until you succeed in walking lonely and erect among\nmen. Rely upon your own judgment; be true to your own conscience; follow\nthe Light that is within you; all outward lights are so many\nwill-o'-the-wisps. There will be those who will tell you that you are\nfoolish; that your judgment is faulty; that your conscience is all awry,\nand that the Light within you is darkness; but heed them not. If what they\nsay is true the sooner you, as a searcher for wisdom, find it out the\nbetter, and you can only make the discovery by bringing your powers to the\ntest. Therefore, pursue your course bravely. Your conscience is at least\nyour own, and to follow it is to be a man; to follow the conscience of\nanother is to be a slave. You will have many falls, will suffer many\nwounds, will endure many buffetings for a time, but press on in faith,\nbelieving that sure and certain victory lies ahead. Search for a rock, a\nprinciple, and having found it cling to it; get it under your feet and\nstand erect upon it, until at last, immovably fixed upon it, you succeed in\ndefying the fury of the waves and storms of selfishness.\n\nFor selfishness in any and every form is dissipation, weakness, death;\nunselfishness in its spiritual aspect is conservation, power, life. As you\ngrow in spiritual life, and become established upon principles, you will\nbecome as beautiful and as unchangeable as those principles, will taste of\nthe sweetness of their immortal essence, and will realize the eternal and\nindestructible nature of the God within.\n\n    No harmful shaft can reach the righteous man,\n      Standing erect amid the storms of hate,\n    Defying hurt and injury and ban,\n      Surrounded by the trembling slaves of Fate.\n\n    Majestic in the strength of silent power,\n      Serene he stands, nor changes not nor turns;\n    Patient and firm in suffering's darkest hour,\n      Time bends to him, and death and doom he spurns.\n\n    Wrath's lurid lightnings round about him play,\n      And hell's deep thunders roll about his head;\n    Yet heeds he not, for him they cannot slay\n      Who stands whence earth and time and space are fled.\n\n    Sheltered by deathless love, what fear hath he?\n      Armored in changeless Truth, what can he know\n    Of loss and gain? Knowing eternity,\n      He moves not whilst the shadows come and go.\n\n    Call him immortal, call him Truth and Light\n      And splendor of prophetic majesty\n    Who bideth thus amid the powers of night,\n      Clothed with the glory of divinity.\n\n\n\n\nTHE REALIZATION OF SELFLESS LOVE\n\n\nIt is said that Michael Angelo saw in every rough block of stone a thing of\nbeauty awaiting the master-hand to bring it into reality. Even so, within\neach there reposes the Divine Image awaiting the master-hand of Faith and\nthe chisel of Patience to bring it into manifestation. And that Divine\nImage is revealed and realized as stainless, selfless Love.\n\nHidden deep in every human heart, though frequently covered up with a mass\nof hard and almost impenetrable accretions, is the spirit of Divine Love,\nwhose holy and spotless essence is undying and eternal. It is the Truth in\nman; it is that which belongs to the Supreme: that which is real and\nimmortal. All else changes and passes away; this alone is permanent and\nimperishable; and to realize this Love by ceaseless diligence in the\npractice of the highest righteousness, to live in it and to become fully\nconscious in it, is to enter into immortality here and now, is to become\none with Truth, one with God, one with the central Heart of all things, and\nto know our own divine and eternal nature.\n\nTo reach this Love, to understand and experience it, one must work with\ngreat persistency and diligence upon his heart and mind, must ever renew\nhis patience and keep strong his faith, for there will be much to remove,\nmuch to accomplish before the Divine Image is revealed in all its glorious\nbeauty.\n\nHe who strives to reach and to accomplish the divine will be tried to the\nvery uttermost; and this is absolutely necessary, for how else could one\nacquire that sublime patience without which there is no real wisdom, no\ndivinity? Ever and anon, as he proceeds, all his work will seem to be\nfutile, and his efforts appear to be thrown away. Now and then a hasty\ntouch will mar his image, and perhaps when he imagines his work is almost\ncompleted he will find what he imagined to be the beautiful form of Divine\nLove utterly destroyed, and he must begin again with his past bitter\nexperience to guide and help him. But he who has resolutely set himself to\nrealize the Highest recognizes no such thing as defeat. All failures are\napparent, not real. Every slip, every fall, every return to selfishness is\na lesson learned, an experience gained, from which a golden grain of wisdom\nis extracted, helping the striver toward the accomplishment of his lofty\nobject. To recognize\n\n    \"That of our vices we can frame\n      A ladder if we will but tread\n    Beneath our feet each deed of shame,\"\n\nis to enter the way that leads unmistakably toward the Divine, and the\nfailings of one who thus recognizes are so many dead selves, upon which he\nrises, as upon stepping-stones, to higher things.\n\nOnce come to regard your failings, your sorrows and sufferings as so many\nvoices telling you plainly where you are weak and faulty, where you fall\nbelow the true and the divine, you will then begin to ceaselessly watch\nyourself, and every slip, every pang of pain will show you where you are to\nset to work, and what you have to remove out of your heart in order to\nbring it nearer to the likeness of the Divine, nearer to the Perfect Love.\nAnd as you proceed, day by day detaching yourself more and more from the\ninward selfishness the Love that is selfless will gradually become revealed\nto you. And when you are growing patient and calm, when your petulances,\ntempers, and irritabilities are passing away from you, and the more\npowerful lusts and prejudices cease to dominate and enslave you, then you\nwill know that the divine is awakening within you, that you are drawing\nnear to the eternal Heart, that you are not far from that selfless Love,\nthe possession of which is peace and immortality.\n\nDivine Love is distinguished from human loves in this supremely important\nparticular, _it is free from partiality_. Human loves cling to a particular\nobject to the exclusion of all else, and when that object is removed, great\nand deep is the resultant suffering to the one who loves. Divine Love\nembraces the whole universe, and, without clinging to any part, yet\ncontains within itself the whole, and he who comes to it by gradually\npurifying and broadening his human loves until all the selfish and impure\nelements are burnt out of them, ceases from suffering. It is because human\nloves are narrow and confined and mingled with selfishness that they cause\nsuffering. No suffering can result from that Love which is so absolutely\npure that it seeks nothing for itself. Nevertheless, human loves are\nabsolutely necessary as steps toward the Divine, and no soul is prepared to\npartake of Divine Love until it has become capable of the deepest and most\nintense human love. It is only by passing through human loves and human\nsufferings that Divine Love is reached and realized.\n\nAll human loves are perishable like the forms to which they cling; but\nthere is a Love that is imperishable, and that does not cling to\nappearances.\n\nAll human loves are counterbalanced by human hates; but there is a Love\nthat admits of no opposite or reaction; divine and free from all taint of\nself, that sheds its fragrance on all alike.\n\nHuman loves are reflections of the Divine Love, and draw the soul nearer to\nthe reality, the Love that knows neither sorrow nor change.\n\nIt is well that the mother, clinging with passionate tenderness to the\nlittle helpless form of flesh that lies on her bosom, should be overwhelmed\nwith the dark waters of sorrow when she sees it laid in the cold earth. It\nis well that her tears should flow and her heart ache, for only thus can\nshe be reminded of the evanescent nature of the joys and objects of sense,\nand be drawn nearer to the eternal and imperishable Reality.\n\nIt is well that lover, brother, sister, husband, wife should suffer deep\nanguish, and be enveloped in gloom when the visible object of their\naffections is torn from them, so that they may learn to turn their\naffections toward the invisible Source of all, where alone abiding\nsatisfaction is to be found.\n\nIt is well that the proud, the ambitious, the self-seeking, should suffer\ndefeat, humiliation, and misfortune; that they should pass through the\nscorching fires of affliction; for only thus can the wayward soul be\nbrought to reflect upon the enigma of life; only thus can the heart be\nsoftened and purified, and prepared to receive the Truth.\n\nWhen the sting of anguish penetrates the heart of human love; when gloom\nand loneliness and desertion cloud the soul of friendship and trust, then\nit is that the heart turns toward the sheltering love of the Eternal, and\nfinds rest in its silent peace. And whosoever comes to this Love is not\nturned away comfortless, is not pierced with anguish nor surrounded with\ngloom; and is never deserted in the dark hour of trial.\n\nThe glory of Divine Love can only be revealed in the heart that is\nchastened by sorrow, and the image of the heavenly state can only be\nperceived and realized when the lifeless, formless accretions of ignorance\nand self are hewn away.\n\nOnly that Love that seeks no personal gratification or reward, that does\nnot make distinctions, and that leaves behind no heartaches, can be called\ndivine.\n\nMen, clinging to self and to the comfortless shadows of evil, are in the\nhabit of thinking of divine Love as something belonging to a God who is out\nof reach; as something outside themselves, and that must for ever remain\noutside. Truly, the Love of God is ever beyond the reach of self, but when\nthe heart and mind are emptied of self then the selfless Love, the supreme\nLove, the Love that is of God or Good becomes an inward and abiding\nreality.\n\nAnd this inward realization of holy Love is none other than the Love of\nChrist that is so much talked about and so little comprehended. The Love\nthat not only saves the soul from sin, but lifts it also above the power of\ntemptation.\n\nBut how may one attain to this sublime realization? The answer which Truth\nhas always given, and will ever give to this question is,--\"Empty thyself,\nand I will fill thee.\" Divine Love cannot be known until self is dead, for\nself is the denial of Love, and how can that which is known be also denied?\nNot until the stone of self is rolled away from the sepulcher of the soul\ndoes the immortal Christ, the pure Spirit of Love, hitherto crucified, dead\nand buried, cast off the bands of ignorance, and come forth in all the\nmajesty of His resurrection.\n\nYou believe that the Christ of Nazareth was put to death and rose again. I\ndo not say you err in that belief; but if you refuse to believe that the\ngentle spirit of Love is crucified daily upon the dark cross of your\nselfish desires, then, I say, you err in this unbelief, and have not yet\nperceived, even afar off, the Love of Christ.\n\nYou say that you have tasted of salvation in the Love of Christ. Are you\nsaved from your temper, your irritability, your vanity, your personal\ndislikes, your judgment and condemnation of others? If not, from what are\nyou saved, and wherein have you realized the transforming Love of Christ?\n\nHe who has realized the Love that is divine has become a new man, and has\nceased to be swayed and dominated by the old elements of self. He is known\nfor his patience, his purity, his self-control, his deep charity of heart,\nand his unalterable sweetness.\n\nDivine or selfless Love is not a mere sentiment or emotion; it is a state\nof knowledge which destroys the dominion of evil and the belief in evil,\nand lifts the soul into the joyful realization of the supreme Good. To the\ndivinely wise, knowledge and Love are one and inseparable.\n\nIt is toward the complete realization of this divine Love that the whole\nworld is moving; it was for this purpose that the universe came into\nexistence, and every grasping at happiness, every reaching out of the soul\ntoward objects, ideas and ideals, is an effort to realize it. But the world\ndoes not realize this Love at present because it is grasping at the\nfleeting shadow and ignoring, in its blindness, the substance. And so\nsuffering and sorrow continue, and must continue until the world, taught by\nits self-inflicted pains, discovers the Love that is selfless, the wisdom\nthat is calm and full of peace.\n\nAnd this Love, this Wisdom, this Peace, this tranquil state of mind and\nheart may be attained to, may be realized by all who are willing and ready\nto yield up self, and who are prepared to humbly enter into a comprehension\nof all that the giving up of self involves. There is no arbitrary power in\nthe universe, and the strongest chains of fate by which men are bound are\nself-forged. Men are chained to that which causes suffering because they\ndesire to be so, because they love their chains, because they think their\nlittle dark prison of self is sweet and beautiful, and they are afraid that\nif they desert that prison they will lose all that is real and worth\nhaving.\n\n    \"Ye suffer from yourselves, none else compels,\n      None other holds ye that ye live and die.\"\n\nAnd the indwelling power which forged the chains and built around itself\nthe dark and narrow prison, can break away when it desires and wills to do\nso, and the soul does will to do so when it has discovered the\nworthlessness of its prison, when long suffering has prepared it for the\nreception of the boundless Light and Love.\n\nAs the shadow follows the form, and as smoke comes after fire, so effect\nfollows cause, and suffering and bliss follow the thoughts and deeds of\nmen. There is no effect in the world around us but has its hidden or\nrevealed cause, and that cause is in accordance with absolute justice. Men\nreap a harvest of suffering because in the near or distant past they have\nsown the seeds of evil; they reap a harvest of bliss also as a result of\ntheir own sowing of the seeds of good. Let a man meditate upon this, let\nhim strive to understand it, and he will then begin to sow only seeds of\ngood, and will burn up the tares and weeds which he has formerly grown in\nthe garden of his heart.\n\nThe world does not understand the Love that is selfless because it is\nengrossed in the pursuit of its own pleasures, and cramped within the\nnarrow limits of perishable interests mistaking, in its ignorance, those\npleasures and interests for real and abiding things. Caught in the flames\nof fleshly lusts, and burning with anguish, it sees not the pure and\npeaceful beauty of Truth. Feeding upon the swinish husks of error and\nself-delusion, it is shut out from the mansion of all-seeing Love.\n\nNot having this Love, not understanding it, men institute innumerable\nreforms which involve no inward sacrifice, and each imagines that his\nreform is going to right the world for ever, while he himself continues to\npropagate evil by engaging it in his own heart. That only can be called\nreform which tends to reform the human heart, for all evil has its rise\nthere, and not until the world, ceasing from selfishness and party strife,\nhas learned the lesson of divine Love, will it realize the Golden Age of\nuniversal blessedness.\n\nLet the rich cease to despise the poor, and the poor to condemn the rich;\nlet the greedy learn how to give, and the lustful how to grow pure; let the\npartisan cease from strife, and the uncharitable begin to forgive; let the\nenvious endeavor to rejoice with others, and the slanderers grow ashamed of\ntheir conduct. Let men and women take this course, and, lo! the Golden Age\nis at hand. He, therefore, who purifies his own heart is the world's\ngreatest benefactor.\n\nYet, though the world is, and will be for many ages to come, shut out from\nthat Age of Gold, which is the realization of selfless Love, you, if you\nare willing, may enter it now, by rising above your selfish self; if you\nwill pass from prejudice, hatred, and condemnation, to gentle and forgiving\nlove.\n\nWhere hatred, dislike, and condemnation are, selfless Love does not abide.\nIt resides only in the heart that has ceased from all condemnation.\n\nYou say, \"How can I love the drunkard, the hypocrite, the sneak, the\nmurderer? I am compelled to dislike and condemn such men.\" It is true you\ncannot love such men _emotionally_, but when you say that you must perforce\ndislike and condemn them you show that you are not acquainted with the\nGreat over-ruling Love; for it is possible to attain to such a state of\ninterior enlightenment as will enable you to perceive the train of causes\nby which these men have become as they are, to enter into their intense\nsufferings, and to know the certainty of their ultimate purification.\nPossessed of such knowledge it will be utterly impossible for you any\nlonger to dislike or condemn them, and you will always think of them with\nperfect calmness and deep compassion.\n\nIf you love people and speak of them with praise until they in some way\nthwart you, or do something of which you disapprove, and then you dislike\nthem and speak of them with dispraise, you are not governed by the Love\nwhich is of God. If, in your heart, you are continually arraigning and\ncondemning others, selfless Love is hidden from you.\n\nHe who knows that Love is at the heart of all things, and has realized the\nall-sufficing power of that Love, has no room in his heart for\ncondemnation.\n\nMen, not knowing this Love, constitute themselves judge and executioner of\ntheir fellows, forgetting that there is the Eternal Judge and Executioner,\nand in so far as men deviate from them in their own views, their particular\nreforms and methods, they brand them as fanatical, unbalanced, lacking\njudgment, sincerity, and honesty; in so far as others approximate to their\nown standard do they look upon them as being everything that is admirable.\nSuch are the men who are centered in self. But he whose heart is centered\nin the supreme Love does not so brand and classify men; does not seek to\nconvert men to his own views, not to convince them of the superiority of\nhis methods. Knowing the Law of Love, he lives it, and maintains the same\ncalm attitude of mind and sweetness of heart toward all. The debased and\nthe virtuous, the foolish and the wise, the learned and the unlearned, the\nselfish and the unselfish receive alike the benediction of his tranquil\nthought.\n\nYou can only attain to this supreme knowledge, this divine Love by\nunremitting endeavor in self-discipline, and by gaining victory after\nvictory over yourself. Only the pure in heart see God, and when your heart\nis sufficiently purified you will enter into the New Birth, and the Love\nthat does not die, nor change, nor end in pain and sorrow will be awakened\nwithin you, and you will be at peace.\n\nHe who strives for the attainment of divine Love is ever seeking to\novercome the spirit of condemnation, for where there is pure spiritual\nknowledge, condemnation cannot exist, and only in the heart that has become\nincapable of condemnation is Love perfected and fully realized.\n\nThe Christian condemns the Atheist; the Atheist satirizes the Christian;\nthe Catholic and Protestant are ceaselessly engaged in wordy warfare, and\nthe spirit of strife and hatred rules where peace and love should be.\n\n\"He that hateth his brother is a murderer,\" a crucifier of the divine\nSpirit of Love; and until you can regard men of all religions and of no\nreligion with the same impartial spirit, with all freedom from dislike, and\nwith perfect equanimity, you have yet to strive for that Love which bestows\nupon its possessor freedom and salvation.\n\nThe realization of divine knowledge, selfless Love, utterly destroys the\nspirit of condemnation, disperses all evil, and lifts the consciousness to\nthat height of pure vision where Love, Goodness, Justice are seen to be\nuniversal, supreme, all-conquering, indestructible.\n\nTrain your mind in strong, impartial, and gentle thought; train your heart\nin purity and compassion; train your tongue to silence and to true and\nstainless speech; so shall you enter the way of holiness and peace, and\nshall ultimately realize the immortal Love. So living, without seeking to\nconvert, you will convince; without arguing, you will teach; not cherishing\nambition, the wise will find you out; and without striving to gain men's\nopinions, you will subdue their hearts. For Love is all-conquering,\nall-powerful; and the thoughts, and deeds, and words of Love can never\nperish.\n\nTo know that Love is universal, supreme, all-sufficing; to be freed from\nthe trammels of evil; to be quit of the inward unrest; to know that all men\nare striving to realize the Truth each in his own way; to be satisfied,\nsorrowless, serene; this is peace; this is gladness; this is immortality;\nthis is Divinity; this is the realization of selfless Love.\n\n    I stood upon the shore, and saw the rocks\n      Resist the onslaught of the mighty sea,\n    And when I thought how all the countless shocks\n      They had withstood through an eternity,\n    I said, \"To wear away this solid main\n    The ceaseless efforts of the waves are vain.\"\n\n    But when I thought how they the rocks had rent,\n      And saw the sand and shingles at my feet\n    (Poor passive remnants of resistance spent)\n      Tumbled and tossed where they the waters meet,\n    Then saw I ancient landmarks 'neath the waves,\n    And knew the waters held the stones their slaves.\n\n    I saw the mighty work the waters wrought\n      By patient softness and unceasing flow;\n    How they the proudest promontory brought\n      Unto their feet, and massy hills laid low;\n    How the soft drops the adamantine wall\n    Conquered at last, and brought it to its fall.\n\n    And then I knew that hard, resisting sin\n      Should yield at last to Love's soft ceaseless roll\n    Coming and going, ever flowing in\n      Upon the proud rocks of the human soul;\n    That all resistance should be spent and past,\n    And every heart yield unto it at last.\n\n\n\n\nENTERING INTO THE INFINITE\n\n\nFrom the beginning of time, man, in spite of his bodily appetites and\ndesires, in the midst of all his clinging to earthly and impermanent\nthings, has ever been intuitively conscious of the limited, transient, and\nillusionary nature of his material existence, and in his sane and silent\nmoments has tried to reach out into a comprehension of the Infinite, and\nhas turned with tearful aspiration toward the restful Reality of the\nEternal Heart.\n\nWhile vainly imagining that the pleasures of earth are real and satisfying,\npain and sorrow continually remind him of their unreal and unsatisfying\nnature. Ever striving to believe that complete satisfaction is to be found\nin material things, he is conscious of an inward and persistent revolt\nagainst this belief, which revolt is at once a refutation of his essential\nmortality, and an inherent and imperishable proof that only in the\nimmortal, the eternal, the infinite can he find abiding satisfaction and\nunbroken peace.\n\nAnd here is the common ground of faith; here the root and spring of all\nreligion; here the soul of Brotherhood and the heart of Love,--that man is\nessentially and spiritually divine and eternal, and that, immersed in\nmortality and troubled with unrest, he is ever striving to enter into a\nconsciousness of his real nature.\n\nThe spirit of man is inseparable from the Infinite, and can be satisfied\nwith nothing short of the Infinite, and the burden of pain will continue to\nweigh upon man's heart, and the shadows of sorrow to darken his pathway\nuntil, ceasing from his wanderings in the dream-world of matter, he comes\nback to his home in the reality of the Eternal.\n\nAs the smallest drop of water detached from the ocean contains all the\nqualities of the ocean, so man, detached in consciousness from the\nInfinite, contains within him its likeness; and as the drop of water must,\nby the law of its nature, ultimately find its way back to the ocean and\nlose itself in its silent depths, so must man, by the unfailing law of his\nnature, at last return to his source, and lose himself in the great ocean\nof the Infinite.\n\nTo re-become one with the Infinite is the goal of man. To enter into\nperfect harmony with the Eternal Law is Wisdom, Love and Peace. But this\ndivine state is, and must ever be, incomprehensible to the merely personal.\nPersonality, separateness, selfishness are one and the same, and are the\nantithesis of wisdom and divinity. By the unqualified surrender of the\npersonality, separateness and selfishness cease, and man enters into the\npossession of his divine heritage of immortality and infinity.\n\nSuch surrender of the personality is regarded by the worldly and selfish\nmind as the most grievous of all calamities, the most irreparable loss, yet\nit is the one supreme and incomparable blessing, the only real and lasting\ngain. The mind unenlightened upon the inner laws of being, and upon the\nnature and destiny of its own life, clings to transient appearances, things\nwhich have in them no enduring substantiality, and so clinging, perishes,\nfor the time being, amid the shattered wreckage of its own illusions.\n\nMen cling to and gratify the flesh as though it were going to last for\never, and though they try to forget the nearness and inevitability of its\ndissolution, the dread of death and of the loss of all that they cling to\nclouds their happiest hours, and the chilling shadow of their own\nselfishness follows them like a remorseless specter.\n\nAnd with the accumulation of temporal comforts and luxuries, the divinity\nwithin men is drugged, and they sink deeper and deeper into materiality,\ninto the perishable life of the senses, and where there is sufficient\nintellect, theories concerning the immortality of the flesh come to be\nregarded as infallible truths. When a man's soul is clouded with\nselfishness in any or every form, he loses the power of spiritual\ndiscrimination, and confuses the temporal with the eternal, the perishable\nwith the permanent, mortality with immortality, and error with Truth. It is\nthus that the world has come to be filled with theories and speculations\nhaving no foundation in human experience. Every body of flesh contains\nwithin itself, from the hour of birth, the elements of its own destruction,\nand by the unalterable law of its own nature must it pass away.\n\nThe perishable in the universe can never become permanent; the permanent\ncan never pass away; the mortal can never become immortal; the immortal can\nnever die; the temporal cannot become eternal nor the eternal become\ntemporal; appearance can never become reality, nor reality fade into\nappearance; error can never become Truth, nor can Truth become error. Man\ncannot immortalize the flesh, but, by overcoming the flesh, by\nrelinquishing all its inclinations, he can enter the region of immortality.\n\"God alone hath immortality,\" and only by realizing the God state of\nconsciousness does man enter into immortality.\n\nAll nature in its myriad forms of life is changeable, impermanent,\nunenduring. Only the informing Principle of nature endures. Nature is many,\nand is marked by separation. The informing Principle is One, and is marked\nby unity. By overcoming the senses and the selfishness within, which is the\novercoming of nature, man emerges from the chrysalis of the personal and\nillusory, and wings himself into the glorious light of the impersonal, the\nregion of universal Truth, out of which all perishable forms come.\n\nLet men, therefore, practice self-denial; let them conquer their animal\ninclinations; let them refuse to be enslaved by luxury and pleasure; let\nthem practice virtue, and grow daily into high and ever higher virtue,\nuntil at last they grow into the Divine, and enter into both the practice\nand the comprehension of humility, meekness, forgiveness, compassion, and\nlove, which practice and comprehension constitute Divinity.\n\n\"Good-will gives insight,\" and only he who has so conquered his personality\nthat he has but one attitude of mind, that of good-will, toward all\ncreatures, is possessed of divine insight, and is capable of distinguishing\nthe true from the false. The supremely good man is, therefore, the wise\nman, the divine man, the enlightened seer, the knower of the Eternal. Where\nyou find unbroken gentleness, enduring patience, sublime lowliness,\ngraciousness of speech, self-control, self-forgetfulness, and deep and\nabounding sympathy, look there for the highest wisdom, seek the company of\nsuch a one, for he has realized the Divine, he lives with the Eternal, he\nhas become one with the Infinite. Believe not him that is impatient, given\nto anger, boastful, who clings to pleasure and refuses to renounce his\nselfish gratifications, and who practices not good-will and far-reaching\ncompassion, for such a one hath not wisdom, vain is all his knowledge, and\nhis works and words will perish, for they are grounded on that which passes\naway.\n\nLet a man abandon self, let him overcome the world, let him deny the\npersonal; by this pathway only can he enter into the heart of the Infinite.\n\nThe world, the body, the personality are mirages upon the desert of time;\ntransitory dreams in the dark night of spiritual slumber, and those who\nhave crossed the desert, those who are spiritually awakened, have alone\ncomprehended the Universal Reality where all appearances are dispersed and\ndreaming and delusion are destroyed.\n\nThere is one Great Law which exacts unconditional obedience, one unifying\nprinciple which is the basis of all diversity, one eternal Truth wherein\nall the problems of earth pass away like shadows. To realize this Law, this\nUnity, this Truth, is to enter into the Infinite, is to become one with the\nEternal.\n\nTo center one's life in the Great Law of Love is to enter into rest,\nharmony, peace. To refrain from all participation in evil and discord; to\ncease from all resistance to evil, and from the omission of that which is\ngood, and to fall back upon unswerving obedience to the holy calm within,\nis to enter into the inmost heart of things, is to attain to a living,\nconscious experience of that eternal and infinite principle which must ever\nremain a hidden mystery to the merely perceptive intellect. Until this\nprinciple is realized, the soul is not established in peace, and he who so\nrealizes is truly wise; not wise with the wisdom of the learned, but with\nthe simplicity of a blameless heart and of a divine manhood.\n\nTo enter into a realization of the Infinite and Eternal is to rise superior\nto time, and the world, and the body, which comprise the kingdom of\ndarkness; and is to become established in immortality, Heaven, and the\nSpirit, which make up the Empire of Light.\n\nEntering into the Infinite is not a mere theory or sentiment. It is a vital\nexperience which is the result of assiduous practice in inward\npurification. When the body is no longer believed to be, even remotely, the\nreal man; when all appetites and desires are thoroughly subdued and\npurified; when the emotions are rested and calm, and when the oscillation\nof the intellect ceases and perfect poise is secured, then, and not till\nthen, does consciousness become one with the Infinite; not until then is\nchildlike wisdom and profound peace secured.\n\nMen grow weary and gray over the dark problems of life, and finally pass\naway and leave them unsolved because they cannot see their way out of the\ndarkness of the personality, being too much engrossed in its limitations.\nSeeking to save his personal life, man forfeits the greater impersonal Life\nin Truth; clinging to the perishable, he is shut out from a knowledge of\nthe Eternal.\n\nBy the surrender of self all difficulties are overcome, and there is no\nerror in the universe but the fire of inward sacrifice will burn it up like\nchaff; no problem, however great, but will disappear like a shadow under\nthe searching light of self-abnegation. Problems exist only in our own\nself-created illusions, and they vanish away when self is yielded up. Self\nand error are synonymous. Error is involved in the darkness of unfathomable\ncomplexity, but eternal simplicity is the glory of Truth.\n\nLove of self shuts men out from Truth, and seeking their own personal\nhappiness they lose the deeper, purer, and more abiding bliss. Says\nCarlyle--\"There is in man a higher than love of happiness. He can do\nwithout happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness.\n\n... Love not pleasure, love God. This is the Everlasting Yea, wherein all\ncontradiction is solved; wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with\nhim.\"\n\nHe who has yielded up that self, that personality that men most love, and\nto which they cling with such fierce tenacity, has left behind him all\nperplexity, and has entered into a simplicity so profoundly simple as to be\nlooked upon by the world, involved as it is in a network of error, as\nfoolishness. Yet such a one has realized the highest wisdom, and is at rest\nin the Infinite. He \"accomplishes without striving,\" and all problems melt\nbefore him, for he has entered the region of reality, and deals, not with\nchanging effects, but with the unchanging principles of things. He is\nenlightened with a wisdom which is as superior to ratiocination, as reason\nis to animality. Having yielded up his lusts, his errors, his opinions and\nprejudices, he has entered into possession of the knowledge of God, having\nslain the selfish desire for heaven, and along with it the ignorant fear of\nhell; having relinquished even the love of life itself, he has gained\nsupreme bliss and Life Eternal, the Life which bridges life and death, and\nknows its own immortality. Having yielded up all without reservation, he\nhas gained all, and rests in peace on the bosom of the Infinite.\n\nOnly he who has become so free from self as to be equally content to be\nannihilated as to live, or to live as to be annihilated, is fit to enter\ninto the Infinite. Only he who, ceasing to trust his perishable self, has\nlearned to trust in boundless measure the Great Law, the Supreme Good, is\nprepared to partake of undying bliss.\n\nFor such a one there is no more regret, nor disappointment, nor remorse,\nfor where all selfishness has ceased these sufferings cannot be; and\nwhatever happens to him he knows that it is for his own good, and he is\ncontent, being no longer the servant of self, but the servant of the\nSupreme. He is no longer affected by the changes of earth, and when he\nhears of wars and rumors of wars his peace is not disturbed, and where men\ngrow angry and cynical and quarrelsome, he bestows compassion and love.\nThough appearances may contradict it, he knows that the world is\nprogressing, and that\n\n      \"Through its laughing and its weeping,\n      Through its living and its keeping,\n    Through its follies and its labors, weaving in and out of sight,\n      To the end from the beginning,\n      Through all virtue and all sinning,\n    Reeled from God's great spool of Progress, runs the golden\n          thread of light.\"\n\nWhen a fierce storm is raging none are angered about it, because they know\nit will quickly pass away, and when the storms of contention are\ndevastating the world, the wise man, looking with the eye of Truth and\npity, knows that it will pass away, and that out of the wreckage of broken\nhearts which it leaves behind the immortal Temple of Wisdom will be built.\n\nSublimely patient; infinitely compassionate; deep, silent, and pure, his\nvery presence is a benediction; and when he speaks men ponder his words in\ntheir hearts, and by them rise to higher levels of attainment. Such is he\nwho has entered into the Infinite, who by the power of utmost sacrifice has\nsolved the sacred mystery of life.\n\n    Questioning Life and Destiny and Truth,\n    I sought the dark and labyrinthine Sphinx,\n    Who spake to me this strange and wondrous thing:--\n    \"Concealment only lies in blinded eyes,\n    And God alone can see the Form of God.\"\n\n    I sought to solve this hidden mystery\n    Vainly by paths of blindness and of pain,\n    But when I found the Way of Love and Peace,\n    Concealment ceased, and I was blind no more:\n    Then saw I God e'en with the eyes of God.\n\n\n\n\nSAINTS, SAGES, AND SAVIORS: THE LAW OF SERVICE\n\n\nThe spirit of Love which is manifested as a perfect and rounded life, is\nthe crown of being and the supreme end of knowledge upon this earth.\n\nThe measure of a man's truth is the measure of his love, and Truth is far\nremoved from him whose life is not governed by Love. The intolerant and\ncondemnatory, even though they profess the highest religion, have the\nsmallest measure of Truth; while those who exercise patience, and who\nlisten calmly and dispassionately to all sides, and both arrive themselves\nat, and incline others to, thoughtful and unbiased conclusions upon all\nproblems and issues, have Truth in fullest measure. The final test of\nwisdom is this,--how does a man live? What spirit does he manifest? How\ndoes he act under trial and temptation? Many men boast of being in\npossession of Truth who are continually swayed by grief, disappointment,\nand passion, and who sink under the first little trial that comes along.\nTruth is nothing if not unchangeable, and in so far as a man takes his\nstand upon Truth does he become steadfast in virtue, does he rise superior\nto his passions and emotions and changeable personality.\n\nMen formulate perishable dogmas, and call them Truth. Truth cannot be\nformulated; it is ineffable, and ever beyond the reach of intellect. It can\nonly be experienced by practice; it can only be manifested as a stainless\nheart and a perfect life.\n\nWho, then, in the midst of the ceaseless pandemonium of schools and creeds\nand parties, has the Truth? He who lives it. He who practices it. He who,\nhaving risen above that pandemonium by overcoming himself, no longer\nengages in it, but sits apart, quiet, subdued, calm, and self-possessed,\nfreed from all strife, all bias, all condemnation, and bestows upon all the\nglad and unselfish love of the divinity within him.\n\nHe who is patient, calm, gentle, and forgiving under all circumstances,\nmanifests the Truth. Truth will never be proved by wordy arguments and\nlearned treatises, for if men do not perceive the Truth in infinite\npatience, undying forgiveness, and all-embracing compassion, no words can\never prove it to them.\n\nIt is an easy matter for the passionate to be calm and patient when they\nare alone, or are in the midst of calmness. It is equally easy for the\nuncharitable to be gentle and kind when they are dealt kindly with, but he\nwho retains his patience and calmness under all trial, who remains\nsublimely meek and gentle under the most trying circumstances, he, and he\nalone, is possessed of the spotless Truth. And this is so because such\nlofty virtues belong to the Divine, and can only be manifested by one who\nhas attained to the highest wisdom, who has relinquished his passionate and\nself-seeking nature, who has realized the supreme and unchangeable Law, and\nhas brought himself into harmony with it.\n\nLet men, therefore, cease from vain and passionate arguments about Truth,\nand let them think and say and do those things which make for harmony,\npeace, love, and good-will. Let them practice heart-virtue, and search\nhumbly and diligently for the Truth which frees the soul from all error and\nsin, from all that blights the human heart, and that darkens, as with\nunending night, the pathway of the wandering souls of earth.\n\nThere is one great all-embracing Law which is the foundation and cause of\nthe universe, the Law of Love. It has been called by many names in various\ncountries and at various times, but behind all its names the same\nunalterable Law may be discovered by the eye of Truth. Names, religions,\npersonalities pass away, but the Law of Love remains. To become possessed\nof a knowledge of this Law, to enter into conscious harmony with it, is to\nbecome immortal, invincible, indestructible.\n\nIt is because of the effort of the soul to realize this Law that men come\nagain and again to live, to suffer, and to die; and when realized,\nsuffering ceases, personality is dispersed, and the fleshly life and death\nare destroyed, for consciousness becomes one with the Eternal.\n\nThe Law is absolutely impersonal, and its highest manifested expression is\nthat of Service. When the purified heart has realized Truth it is then\ncalled upon to make the last, the greatest and holiest sacrifice, the\nsacrifice of the well-earned enjoyment of Truth. It is by virtue of this\nsacrifice that the divinely-emancipated soul comes to dwell among men,\nclothed with a body of flesh, content to dwell among the lowliest and\nleast, and to be esteemed the servant of all mankind. That sublime humility\nwhich is manifested by the world's saviors is the seal of Godhead, and he\nwho has annihilated the personality, and has become a living, visible\nmanifestation of the impersonal, eternal, boundless Spirit of Love, is\nalone singled out as worthy to receive the unstinted worship of posterity.\nHe only who succeeds in humbling himself with that divine humility which is\nnot only the extinction of self, but is also the pouring out upon all the\nspirit of unselfish love, is exalted above measure, and given spiritual\ndominion in the hearts of mankind.\n\nAll the great spiritual teachers have denied themselves personal luxuries,\ncomforts, and rewards, have abjured temporal power, and have lived and\ntaught the limitless and impersonal Truth. Compare their lives and\nteachings, and you will find the same simplicity, the same self-sacrifice,\nthe same humility, love, and peace both lived and preached by them. They\ntaught the same eternal Principles, the realization of which destroys all\nevil. Those who have been hailed and worshiped as the saviors of mankind\nare manifestations of the Great impersonal Law, and being such, were free\nfrom passion and prejudice, and having no opinions, and no special letter\nof doctrine to preach and defend, they never sought to convert and to\nproselytize. Living in the highest Goodness, the supreme Perfection, their\nsole object was to uplift mankind by manifesting that Goodness in thought,\nword, and deed. They stand between man the personal and God the impersonal,\nand serve as exemplary types for the salvation of self-enslaved mankind.\n\nMen who are immersed in self, and who cannot comprehend the Goodness that\nis absolutely impersonal, deny divinity to all saviors except their own,\nand thus introduce personal hatred and doctrinal controversy, and, while\ndefending their own particular views with passion, look upon each other as\nbeing heathens or infidels, and so render null and void, as far as their\nlives are concerned, the unselfish beauty and holy grandeur of the lives\nand teachings of their own Masters. Truth cannot be limited; it can never\nbe the special prerogative of any man, school, or nation, and when\npersonality steps in, Truth is lost.\n\nThe glory alike of the saint, the sage, and the savior is this,--that he\nhas realized the most profound lowliness, the most sublime unselfishness;\nhaving given up all, even his own personality, all his works are holy and\nenduring, for they are freed from every taint of self. He gives, yet never\nthinks of receiving; he works without regretting the past or anticipating\nthe future, and never looks for reward.\n\nWhen the farmer has tilled and dressed his land and put in the seed, he\nknows that he has done all that he can possibly do, and that now he must\ntrust to the elements, and wait patiently for the course of time to bring\nabout the harvest, and that no amount of expectancy on his part will affect\nthe result. Even so, he who has realized Truth goes forth as a sower of the\nseeds of goodness, purity, love and peace, without expectancy, and never\nlooking for results, knowing that there is the Great Over-ruling Law which\nbrings about its own harvest in due time, and which is alike the source of\npreservation and destruction.\n\nMen, not understanding the divine simplicity of a profoundly unselfish\nheart, look upon their particular savior as the manifestation of a special\nmiracle, as being something entirely apart and distinct from the nature of\nthings, and as being, in his ethical excellence, eternally unapproachable\nby the whole of mankind. This attitude of unbelief (for such it is) in the\ndivine perfectibility of man, paralyzes effort, and binds the souls of men\nas with strong ropes to sin and suffering. Jesus \"grew in wisdom\" and was\n\"perfected by suffering.\" What Jesus was, he became such; what Buddha was,\nhe became such; and every holy man became such by unremitting perseverance\nin self-sacrifice. Once recognize this, once realize that by watchful\neffort and hopeful perseverance you can rise above your lower nature, and\ngreat and glorious will be the vistas of attainment that will open out\nbefore you. Buddha vowed that he would not relax his efforts until he\narrived at the state of perfection, and he accomplished his purpose.\n\nWhat the saints, sages, and saviors have accomplished, you likewise may\naccomplish if you will only tread the way which they trod and pointed out,\nthe way of self-sacrifice, of self-denying service.\n\nTruth is very simple. It says, \"Give up self,\" \"Come unto Me\" (away from\nall that defiles) \"and I will give you rest.\" All the mountains of\ncommentary that have been piled upon it cannot hide it from the heart that\nis earnestly seeking for Righteousness. It does not require learning; it\ncan be known in spite of learning. Disguised under many forms by erring\nself-seeking man, the beautiful simplicity and clear transparency of Truth\nremains unaltered and undimmed, and the unselfish heart enters into and\npartakes of its shining radiance. Not by weaving complex theories, not by\nbuilding up speculative philosophies is Truth realized; but by weaving the\nweb of inward purity, by building up the Temple of a stainless life is\nTruth realized.\n\nHe who enters upon this holy way begins by restraining his passions. This\nis virtue, and is the beginning of saintship, and saintship is the\nbeginning of holiness. The entirely worldly man gratifies all his desires,\nand practices no more restraint than the law of the land in which he lives\ndemands; the virtuous man restrains his passions; the saint attacks the\nenemy of Truth in its stronghold within his own heart, and restrains all\nselfish and impure thoughts; while the holy man is he who is free from\npassion and all impure thought, and to whom goodness and purity have become\nas natural as scent and color are to the flower. The holy man is divinely\nwise; he alone knows Truth in its fullness, and has entered into abiding\nrest and peace. For him evil has ceased; it has disappeared in the\nuniversal light of the All-Good. Holiness is the badge of wisdom. Said\nKrishna to the Prince Arjuna--\n\n    \"Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness,\n    Patience and honor, reverence for the wise,\n    Purity, constancy, control of self,\n    Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice,\n    Perception of the certitude of ill\n    In birth, death, age, disease, suffering and sin;\n    An ever tranquil heart in fortunes good\n    And fortunes evil, ...\n    ... Endeavors resolute\n    To reach perception of the utmost soul,\n    And grace to understand what gain it were\n    So to attain--this is true wisdom, Prince!\n    And what is otherwise is ignorance!\"\n\nWhoever fights ceaselessly against his own selfishness, and strives to\nsupplant it with all-embracing love, is a saint, whether he live in a\ncottage or in the midst of riches and influence; or whether he preaches or\nremains obscure.\n\nTo the worldling, who is beginning to aspire towards higher things, the\nsaint, such as a sweet St. Francis of Assisi, or a conquering St. Anthony,\nis a glorious and inspiring spectacle; to the saint, an equally enrapturing\nsight is that of the sage, sitting serene and holy, the conqueror of sin\nand sorrow, no more tormented by regret and remorse, and whom even\ntemptation can never reach; and yet even the sage is drawn on by a still\nmore glorious vision, that of the savior actively manifesting his knowledge\nin selfless works, and rendering his divinity more potent for good by\nsinking himself in the throbbing, sorrowing, aspiring heart of mankind.\n\nAnd this only is true service--to forget oneself in love towards all, to\nlose oneself in working for the whole. O thou vain and foolish man, who\nthinkest that thy many works can save thee; who, chained to all error,\ntalkest loudly of thyself, thy work, and thy many sacrifices, and\nmagnifiest thine own importance; know this, that though thy fame fill the\nwhole earth, all thy work shall come to dust, and thou thyself be reckoned\nlower than the least in the Kingdom of Truth!\n\nOnly the work that is impersonal can live; the works of self are both\npowerless and perishable. Where duties, howsoever humble, are done without\nself-interest, and with joyful sacrifice, there is true service and\nenduring work. Where deeds, however brilliant and apparently successful,\nare done from love of self, there is ignorance of the Law of Service, and\nthe work perishes.\n\nIt is given to the world to learn one great and divine lesson, the lesson\nof absolute unselfishness. The saints, sages, and saviors of all time are\nthey who have submitted themselves to this task, and have learned and lived\nit. All the Scriptures of the world are framed to teach this one lesson;\nall the great teachers reiterate it. It is too simple for the world which,\nscorning it, stumbles along in the complex ways of selfishness.\n\nA pure heart is the end of all religion and the beginning of divinity. To\nsearch for this Righteousness is to walk the Way of Truth and Peace, and he\nwho enters this Way will soon perceive that Immortality which is\nindependent of birth and death, and will realize that in the Divine economy\nof the universe the humblest effort is not lost.\n\nThe divinity of a Krishna, a Gautama, or a Jesus is the crowning glory of\nself-abnegation, the end of the soul's pilgrimage in matter and mortality,\nand the world will not have finished its long journey until every soul has\nbecome as these, and has entered into the blissful realization of its own\ndivinity.\n\n    Great glory crowns the heights of hope by arduous struggle won;\n    Bright honor rounds the hoary head that mighty works hath done;\n    Fair riches come to him who strives in ways of golden gain.\n    And fame enshrines his name who works with genius-glowing brain;\n    But greater glory waits for him who, in the bloodless strife\n    'Gainst self and wrong, adopts, in love, the sacrificial life;\n    And brighter honor rounds the brow of him who, 'mid the scorns\n    Of blind idolaters of self, accepts the crown of thorns;\n    And fairer purer riches come to him who greatly strives\n    To walk in ways of love and truth to sweeten human lives;\n    And he who serveth well mankind exchanges fleeting fame\n    For Light eternal, Joy and Peace, and robes of heavenly flame.\n\n\n\n\nTHE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE\n\n\nIn the external universe there is ceaseless turmoil, change, and unrest; at\nthe heart of all things there is undisturbed repose; in this deep silence\ndwelleth the Eternal.\n\nMan partakes of this duality, and both the surface change and disquietude,\nand the deep-seated eternal abode of Peace, are contained within him.\n\nAs there are silent depths in the ocean which the fiercest storm cannot\nreach, so there are silent, holy depths in the heart of man which the\nstorms of sin and sorrow can never disturb. To reach this silence and to\nlive consciously in it is peace.\n\nDiscord is rife in the outward world, but unbroken harmony holds sway at\nthe heart of the universe. The human soul, torn by discordant passion and\ngrief, reaches blindly toward the harmony of the sinless state, and to\nreach this state and to live consciously in it is peace.\n\nHatred severs human lives, fosters persecution, and hurls nations into\nruthless war, yet men, though they do not understand why, retain some\nmeasure of faith in the overshadowing of a Perfect Love; and to reach this\nLove and to live consciously in it is peace.\n\nAnd this inward peace, this silence, this harmony, this Love, is the\nKingdom of Heaven, which is so difficult to reach because few are willing\nto give up themselves and to become as little children.\n\n    \"Heaven's gate is very narrow and minute,\n    It cannot be perceived by foolish men\n    Blinded by vain illusions of the world;\n    E'en the clear-sighted who discern the way,\n    And seek to enter, find the portal barred,\n    And hard to be unlocked. Its massive bolts\n    Are pride and passion, avarice and lust.\"\n\nMen cry peace! peace! where there is no peace, but on the contrary,\ndiscord, disquietude and strife. Apart from that Wisdom which is\ninseparable from self-renunciation, there can be no real and abiding peace.\n\nThe peace which results from social comfort, passing gratification, or\nworldly victory is transitory in its nature, and is burnt up in the heat of\nfiery trial. Only the Peace of Heaven endures through all trial, and only\nthe selfless heart can know the Peace of Heaven.\n\nHoliness alone is undying peace. Self-control leads to it, and the\never-increasing Light of Wisdom guides the pilgrim on his way. It is\npartaken of in a measure as soon as the path of virtue is entered upon, but\nit is only realized in its fullness when self disappears in the\nconsummation of a stainless life.\n\n                    \"This is peace,\n      To conquer love of self and lust of life,\n    To tear deep-rooted passion from the heart\n      To still the inward strife.\"\n\nIf, O reader! you would realize the Light that never fades, the Joy that\nnever ends, and the tranquillity that cannot be disturbed; if you would\nleave behind for ever your sins, your sorrows, your anxieties and\nperplexities; if, I say, you would partake of this salvation, this\nsupremely glorious Life, then conquer yourself. Bring every thought, every\nimpulse, every desire into perfect obedience to the divine power resident\nwithin you. There is no other way to peace but this, and if you refuse to\nwalk it, your much praying and your strict adherence to ritual will be\nfruitless and unavailing, and neither gods nor angels can help you. Only to\nhim that overcometh is given the white stone of the regenerate life, on\nwhich is written the New and Ineffable Name.\n\nCome away, for awhile, from external things, from the pleasures of the\nsenses, from the arguments of the intellect, from the noise and the\nexcitements of the world, and withdraw yourself into the inmost chamber of\nyour heart, and there, free from the sacrilegious intrusion of all selfish\ndesires, you will find a deep silence, a holy calm, a blissful repose, and\nif you will rest awhile in that holy place, and will meditate there, the\nfaultless eye of Truth will open within you, and you will see things as\nthey really are. This holy place within you is your real and eternal self;\nit is the divine within you; and only when you identify yourself with it\ncan you be said to be \"clothed and in your right mind.\" It is the abode of\npeace, the temple of wisdom, the dwelling-place of immortality. Apart from\nthis inward resting-place, this Mount of Vision, there can be no true\npeace, no knowledge of the Divine, and if you can remain there for one\nminute, one hour, or one day, it is possible for you to remain there\nalways. All your sins and sorrows, your fears and anxieties are your own,\nand you can cling to them or you can give them up. Of your own accord you\ncling to your unrest; of your own accord you can come to abiding peace. No\none else can give up sin for you; you must give it up yourself. The\ngreatest teacher can do no more than walk the way of Truth for himself, and\npoint it out to you; you yourself must walk it for yourself. You can obtain\nfreedom and peace alone by your own efforts, by yielding up that which\nbinds the soul, and which is destructive of peace.\n\nThe angels of divine peace and joy are always at hand, and if you do not\nsee them, and hear them, and dwell with them, it is because you shut\nyourself out from them, and prefer the company of the spirits of evil\nwithin you. You are what you will to be, what you wish to be, what you\nprefer to be. You can commence to purify yourself, and by so doing can\narrive at peace, or you can refuse to purify yourself, and so remain with\nsuffering.\n\nStep aside, then; come out of the fret and the fever of life; away from the\nscorching heat of self, and enter the inward resting-place where the\ncooling airs of peace will calm, renew, and restore you.\n\nCome out of the storms of sin and anguish. Why be troubled and\ntempest-tossed when the haven of Peace of God is yours!\n\nGive up all self-seeking; give up self, and lo! the Peace of God is yours!\n\nSubdue the animal within you; conquer every selfish uprising, every\ndiscordant voice; transmute the base metals of your selfish nature into the\nunalloyed gold of Love, and you shall realize the Life of Perfect Peace.\nThus subduing, thus conquering, thus transmuting, you will, O reader! while\nliving in the flesh, cross the dark waters of mortality, and will reach\nthat Shore upon which the storms of sorrow never beat, and where sin and\nsuffering and dark uncertainty cannot come. Standing upon that Shore, holy,\ncompassionate, awakened, and self-possessed and glad with unending\ngladness, you will realize that\n\n    \"Never the Spirit was born, the Spirit will cease to be never;\n    Never was time it was not, end and beginning are dreams;\n    Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the Spirit for ever;\n    Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems.\"\n\nYou will then know the meaning of Sin, of Sorrow, of Suffering, and that\nthe end thereof is Wisdom; will know the cause and the issue of existence.\n\nAnd with this realization you will enter into rest, for this is the bliss\nof immortality, this the unchangeable gladness, this the untrammeled\nknowledge, undefiled Wisdom, and undying Love; this, and this only, is the\nrealization of Perfect Peace.\n\n    O thou who wouldst teach men of Truth!\n      Hast thou passed through the desert of doubt?\n    Art thou purged by the fires of sorrow? hath ruth\n          The fiends of opinion cast out\n    Of thy human heart? Is thy soul so fair\n    That no false thought can ever harbor there?\n\n    O thou who wouldst teach men of Love!\n      Hast thou passed through the place of despair?\n    Hast thou wept through the dark night of grief?\n          does it move\n          (Now freed from its sorrow and care)\n    Thy human heart to pitying gentleness,\n    Looking on wrong, and hate, and ceaseless stress?\n\n    O thou who wouldst teach men of Peace!\n      Hast thou crossed the wide ocean of strife?\n    Hast thou found on the Shores of the Silence,\n          Release from all the wild unrest of life?\n    From thy human heart hath all striving gone,\n    Leaving but Truth, and Love, and Peace alone?","title":"The Way of Peace","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":17193}