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Fair Innocence, how lightly she trips along the hill
With early dawn our souls to thrill,
The glow of Truth upon her youth
Shines forth anew, sweet challenge, too,
To hold her hope in daily walk -
Her noble ideals in daily talk.
Contemplate, then, the way of life
That passes torch from age to youth,
A continuous challenge and a proof
That life is real and earnest when
God's plan exalts the souls of men.
As the harvest of this year brings forth its abundance, the terrifying challenges of the times clearly reveal that the youth of the world have become the target of the purveyors of mortal goods. The coffers of the merchants of the world are filled to overflowing with the income from the selfish investments they have made in the world's works. Through false advertising, they have lured the youth into every snare of degeneracy and vice imaginable, and their sole contribution to society in return for their gains is the casual yet insidious debauchery of the age. Clearly they reap exactly as they sow.1
The former Surgeon General of the United States has documented the suspected dangers in cigarette smoking. When the rate of cancer incidents proven to have been the direct cause of smoking was shown to members of the tobacco industry, they did not seriously consider the possibility of turning the capital investment of their companies to avenues of service to mankind; on the contrary, they chose to suppress the desired warning notices in their advertisements by bringing pressure to bear upon the executive and legislative branches of the government of the United States. Rather than reveal the truth to the younger generation, they have chosen to engage in a new and hypnotic advertising campaign to sell their wares.
I do not say here that good men, insofar as the world measures men, are not among them. I do not imply that they do not rationalize their conduct as being wholly correct. But I refuse to believe that they are as innocent babes in the woods, and I believe that the thrust of the Law shall one day jerk them all quite suddenly to their feet.
There is a personal and world karma involved in this action, and it must fall upon them - one and all. In their new campaign they seek to identify objects of beauty and nature - a human figure and form, alluring images of the opposite sex, cool and tranquil waters and drifting clouds, even the free atmosphere of the planet - with their noxious products which do such wanton destruction within the body temple of man.
The liquor industry has fallen somewhat short of the intensive campaign waged by the cigarette industry, but it records a close second in their achievements. The jungled rhythms and wild contortions, the public orgies and displays of sexual energy engaged in by the youth are also conveyed at great expense through the media of the television screen, and such distorted images reach even the incoming children cradled by a generation of parental guardians who themselves have been led astray; and they know not either what they do or what to do!
I must dramatize these effects before your eyes in order to awaken those more mature individuals among my readers who have enlightenment to the responsibilities of life upon earth in the present hour. It is not enough to believe in God-freedom, you must assert that freedom with every fiber of your being!
If you do not want to be brought under the power of psychic influences, you must determine to repel those influences from your world and to have no part of them. If you wish to assist others to find their freedom, you must first determine to be free yourself from those influences which enslave others.
I do not expect you to believe that any of us found our freedom without struggle and without overcoming, for it has ever been thus. The prize is of unquestioned worth.
I do not think it just that the children of this generation who came into a world with the hope of higher spheres should find such selfish inattention or lack of concern on the part of those individuals who today are illumined in a higher way and who have understanding of the sacred mysteries of life.
I think it is now the time for all of the spiritual powers of the world - and I refer here to every religious faith: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Taoism, and all of the many smaller sects and groups who have faith in God - to join hands together to put down these ruthless attacks against the youth of our world. Ponder what they could do, if they would, united for the sake of God and man!
Every educator should summon from his own gnosis of culture and cultural appreciation that understanding which will clearly delineate for him how the seeds of destruction have spiraled other civilizations downward - such as ancient Greece and Rome - making mad and thereby destroying those to whom the torch of Life was passed. These same forces are at work today to take from mankind the precious opportunities which the future holds in store.
I think at this harvest time - when divine abundance is spread as a feast before the consciousness of man, when the wonders of the electronic age with its great power of free communication, free transportation, and free control of energy in the removal of drudgery are at the beck and call of mankind - that men should seriously ponder how the advertising media, currently used to disseminate programs for gain to the vested commercial interests, may be effectively used to further golden-age progress and the spreading abroad of the divine truth that will make men free. I do not care what the cost, for all is lost without it!
The wanton disregard of the youth of the world for an acceptable moral standard and the lack of respect which they hold for their elders, while it may not be new, is another sign in the sky. As I have said before, it is not the pleasure of the ascended masters to dwell upon man's foibles; yet a hands-off policy on our part would not arouse an indignant world community as they ought to be aroused to take some forthright action!
Someone has arisen while I am speaking to say, "Would you propose, insomuch as you are the Guardian of Freedom, that we suppress the rights of the youth to do as they will?" I say, in heaven's name, no. But at the present hour the power of virtue has been suppressed; and I would but give it at least equal time, knowing that the divine steed in this great race before the consciousness of man would soon outdistance the mortal one.
"Something for nothing" is the byword of this age, for the old and honest effort of the past has been sidetracked in part because of mechanization. When a boy went to the back woodshed with ax in hand to split the firewood for the evening fire, his energies were directed in rewarding service to honor father and mother that his days might be long upon the land which the Lord God gave unto him!2
Today, the mechanization of the world has created a cult of hedonism; and the pleasures of table, of the eye, and of body materialism are first while the mind itself is left to feast on the chaff of human philosophy. I do not imply here that what I am doing in these current series is in the form of a complaint, except it be before a cosmic court. I AM the Advocate of Freedom, but not that freedom which is the license to do that which is iniquitous.
Before the flood of Noah, the world did function according to the current pattern, and I am certain that destruction must follow destructive acts. That the hand of the Lords of Karma has been stayed for so long is a tribute to the mercy of God. But by a like token, the hand of Nature and Nature's God will surely rise in course of time and no shades of night will men be able to pull down before their eyes to conceal the brightness of that glare.
It is sad but true that many of the innocent among mankind stand bewildered when the hand of Nature reaches forth. Then they are without understanding, yet there was a time when the hand of Understanding did give them a morsel of divine delight to eat. For "my delight is in the law of the Lord"3 is a wise adage.
Those who partake of any divine food, whether it be a morsel or a feast, are eternally rewarded; but those who refuse to eat at the Lord's table must always find that one day, through their ignorance of (disregard for or rejection of) the proffered gift from the hand of God, they shall remain in ignorance. This is the meaning of the word "to ignore." Hence the children of innocence are also they who have within them the inn-o-cence, or the "inward sense" of sweet delight in purity, nobility, honor, freedom, justice, and that Electronic Reality that is behind each Word as a manifest part of the body of God (the Word that became flesh4 - i.e., substance).
Let us persevere together, for as a commander in battle I know when we must remain fixed, when we must retreat, and when we must advance. We are on the move forward! We shall not retreat!