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To Those Who Maintain an Open Mind in the Spirit of Inquiry:
One can easily resolve the question "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" by asking, "Which came first, God or man, Spirit or Matter?" The answer may well provide additional insight into our subject - understanding yourself.
Man was created as a Spirit, and consciousness and intelligence are a necessary part of the spiritual being that man really is. However, consciousness - which may be defined as God's awareness of himself - not only functions in the domain of Spirit but also is able to project itself into the time-space continuum and thus to integrate the ever changing world of the finite into the magnificent real world of the Infinite.
The sole purpose of life upon the schoolroom-planet Earth is to develop in man through consent by free will those masterful cosmic qualities that are a part of the character and being of God. The eternal Spirit is all-goodness. Man is intended to become that goodness. Of necessity, his intelligence has been limited both in ability and flexibility by his karmic pattern and by his response to the opportunities of Life. His power, likewise, has been restrained until such a time as the character of the individual might be developed in its divine similitude, whereupon his acts would become wholly divine, hence worthy of the divine power.
There is no competition in God. He delights in the diversification of all creation provided that its pattern is after the true nature of the divine being. The reason that pattern is all-important has to do with eternal life or a state of permanence in God. God does not wish to perpetuate evil or unhappiness, and certainly man should not desire to prolong his imperfection. Therefore the guardianship of the Eternal has placed necessary safeguards and restraints in the world of form, including the death of the physical body. This was done in order to prevent the perpetuation of undesirable traits of mortal thought and feeling.
Let men understand that the abundant life must come into manifestation in the world of the individual as naturally as the opening of a flower once he has developed attunement with the mind of Christ. For the Christ acts as a mediator for him and imputes unto him that righteousness which is the Father's will.
There are many weapons which the dark ones have employed to keep mankind from discovering the Real Self. The most darkening of all is the screen of egoistic (self-centered) consciousness and that altogether human quality of pride which so readily saturates the being of man. Beloved ones, pride is so subtle that individuals often mistake it for spiritual zeal.
The great doer is always the Eternal One who employs the hands and feet of humanity as well as their consciousness, their mind, and their will but never without the consent of the individual. It is his intent to turn over to the individual - just as soon as he has demonstrated his capacity and worth to receive it - the full employment of his God-given talents. The correct use of these talents is always under the direction of the genius which God has implanted within the mortal consciousness. This genius is truly a manifestation of the infinite law that lives and moves in the finite world.
With all of their hearts, men should guard their consciousness against the luciferian attitude of human pride. With few exceptions, the people evolving upon this planet have lurking within their consciousness the quality of pride which shows its face when individuals allow themselves to become piqued over little things. The spiritually progressive lifestream who is willing to engage in a bit of introspection should note as an indication of personal pride the fact that he becomes annoyed or angry with others over trifles or unimportant matters that ought not to make any difference. One should learn balance and reasonability, giving unto others the same grace that one expects to receive.
Through inward delight in the law of God,1 a man can reach the point where he is able to withstand the onslaught of excess emotionalism and hold himself in the balance of the universal light even when his sensitive nature causes him to feel the pain of anger or regret concerning the conduct of another. Self-control that is control of the emotions and the feeling world is one of the keys to self-mastery which some of our disciples find difficult to employ.
Because the individual identifies with his consciousness, he is sensitive to circumstances which invade his consciousness and which he may interpret as an affront to his own life. By identifying with all life right while he maintains an awareness of his personal function and a sense of his personal mission he can easily understand why individuals may act or react as they do. This understanding will spread the oil of tranquillity on the troubled waters of human affairs. Above all, the self should remain poised yet not aloof or without compassion for the problems of others.
Training in sensitivity to Christ is advocated by the Brotherhood, but we would point out that involvement in psychic sensitizing and improper physical contact with others (which comes under the heading of "sensitivity training") is a dangerous procedure which can very easily bring about the demise of needed individuality. Men need to preserve the individual self while they attain spiritual identification with the Real Self. Expanding that sense of identification, one can include as a part of his own self-awareness the God Presence in all life. And he need not explore the human psyche or physique in order to achieve this awareness.
It is necessary that effective God-control over the creation be maintained in the universe so that God can produce the reality of his kingdom everywhere. Where the Spirit is not present, where the Spirit is denied, where the Spirit is quenched2 there is no fount of reality that brings the buoyancy of inter-spiritual and inter-personal realizations to the consciousness. The little bursts of joy that flood the soul as it comes in contact with those who are spiritually of like mind is a certain indication of the presence of the Spirit.
Those who engage in so-called mental karate, those who seek to control or to hypnotize others, often do not realize that they are functioning outside of the intent of the eternal Father. Each son, in the dignity of true self-realization, must hold a sense of his own individual mission and expand outward in consciousness through the heavenly Presence to understand the life plan of others.
In one sense all life is one, and this is the highest sense; but in the lower senses there are many snares and tangles to be avoided. Through discretion, Christ-discrimination, and holy prayer, men retain their divine dignity which does not preclude the possibility of the effervescing of the self in humor, truism, and perpetual joyousness. Such dignity is never overcome by person, place, condition, or thing.
Health, faith, and determination are all adjuncts to the expansion of the real in man. You must come each day to a greater understanding of yourself in order to be able rightly to represent the purposes of life. You are love and you love love. You are wisdom and you love wisdom. You are power and you love power. But you know that all is fulfilled in the perfect triangle of balanced attitude. This is the attitude that seeks the commonweal and understands the dangers of mental manipulation. Through human cleverness and wit, the kingdom of God has suffered violence,3 the world order has been tampered with, and the forces of media have been used for purposes of negative control.
The key to the redemption of the social system lies in the victory of divine law in the being of individual man. What the individual man becomes, the collective world is. Through a wholehearted entering into the kingdom of God and his righteousness4 and through participation in those spiritual exercises that strip man of the false and clothe him with the real, the individual and his world can and must become the fullness of all that God intended from the beginning.
O wisdom's star, continue to shine!