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Sojourners upon the Planet Earth:
Among the many mansions of God, of special concern to you is the earth upon which you live. But, in the name of universal love, have you thought of the globe of self-consciousness, of the garment you have woven by your thoughts and your feelings? Are you able to separate the ideas that are your own from those that are driven against you, that penetrate your mind from without - concepts alien to your innate sense of right and wrong, but all too often determinant in molding your thoughts and feelings? Outside influences can be benign as well as evil; for man, if he wills it so, is also subject to the dazzling and powerful penetrations of cosmic Christ-love.
Let men realize, then, that although each man is a law unto himself, that law is subject to the molding factors of other minds - some welcome, some not. This is where the role of the Christ Self comes in. Those who esteem the will of God above all other considerations in their lives, who have faith in God's personal concern for their well-being - in His dispensations of universal justice, in His tenderness, and in His Reality - will amplify only those measures of good which are as cosmic cadences of progress marching onward toward perfection.
The law of love is steadfast, immovable, and tangible in a chaliced heart, receptive to Truth and to the ministrations of the Christ Self. The Christ Self of each man, as the Good Shepherd of his consciousness, leads the soul beside the still waters,1 teaching him the laws of self-mastery through the God-control of his emotions. He learns to position himself on the Path of progress, to measure his own rate of attainment, and to know what he must do to overcome the last vestiges of human pride and hardness of heart. Then at last the role of the Christ Self becomes the dominant theme of his existence, and the Good Shepherd leads the sheep - the flock of man's thoughts - into those green pastures of God's Consciousness of which our Lord often spoke in parable.
Those conscious only of Jesus' physical manifestation, of his vital, masterful control of the elements in man and nature, may lose sight of their own God-conveyed gift of Christed magnificence. The statement "I AM the Light of the world"2 was intended to reveal the Christ as the Light of every man in order that each one, finding his place in the cosmic scheme of life, would recognize no limitation greater than the moment. For God intends man to attain to the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, to the glory to God in the highest.
The role of a deep and abiding humility in establishing such God-orientation is great, for without humility men may become the victims of all sorts of degrading views and involvements. By using the lens of the mind to critically measure the life and services of another, they become aware only of the negatives; and without realizing it they formulate a mental caricature, a grotesque exaggeration of the human consciousness, wholly apart from the real heart and motive of the individual.
But God is not so. He who sees and knows the depth of each one's thoughts does not need to ponder or reflect, but knows all things on the instant; for upon the Body of God there registers the full impact of that which is real. The words "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity"3 point to humanity's great need for the mediatorship of the Christ, whose consciousness acts as a screening device, allowing only the images of perfection to rise to the throne of Reality. All else is adjudicated at the level of the Christ Self, who discerns each one's service to Life, his progress Godward, and his need for the chastisement of the Law. Thus the ultimate Criterion of Truth does give them the fullest measure of assistance in understanding themselves while they are yet in the state of becoming Whole.
But at the divine level, the pure and beautiful concepts of God for each soul hold him inviolate in the character of the beloved Son. Thus, through meditation upon the perfection of the Presence, man yokes his consciousness to the thoughts of God and is thereby exalted out of his lowly estate into that victorious domain of God-achievement. This is the exaltation which God has promised to every man, the raising-up of each soul out of the cradle of God's love into the masterful Light of that conscious dominion which the Lord of Creation originally intended for man. In the words of the Virgin Mother, "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree."4
Unless his perception of Reality grows day by day, man may remain embedded in the mire of the abomination of desolation where he feels forsaken by both God and man. Once a man's heart is truly open to the will of God and he seeks neither to define or refine it, His will is given the freedom to reign in the lower consciousness, and joy to the world floods forth from the cup of being, establishing peace upon earth and in the world of the individual. He then remains undisturbed by the trivia of mortal existence, finding in the passing of the seasons the writings of those chapters in his life - past and future - which, as the pages turn, burn into memory those essential lessons that mature and ripen the soul.
In my own outreach to God, I sought personal closeness to the Master Jesus. To lean upon his breast, I thought, was to achieve the kingdom of God. Significantly, with the passing of the years and the various experiences which were given to me to enhance my own spiritual growth, there came to me, as there will come to you, O beloved hearts of mankind, an increasing awareness of my responsibilities to nurture the divine seed which I discovered, to my great joy, God had also planted within myself.
As I became aware of the divine potential locked within this seed of Light, I grew not apart from him but closer unto him and I realized that my Lord could not convey to me at once all of his own God-given attainment; for I was not ready to receive his mantle in the fullness of my own self-mastery. How little the world really knows of this mystery of the Christ!
With the increase of my inner awareness of the founding principles of individual development inherent within the power of divine love, I clearly saw that the warp and woof of creation was to be found in the mystical garment of God in which all can share. I also saw that the garment of my own life that I had woven would never be complete, but a changing tapestry of continuing unfoldment in the kingdom of heaven.
It was this universal love which I experienced within myself, engendered by the love of Jesus, that drew me, like a heavenly magnet, into the higher dimensions of Love's omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, the all-powerful, all-wise God Consciousness everywhere present. Here in the threefold unity of the Holy Spirit the Beloved showed me the need to replace my dependence upon his person with individual attainment.
Out of the now of conscious awareness I perceived the future and the past and the holy night, the holy of holies when Christ is born in every man. And I perceived that with the passing cycles of man's overcoming, the Christ would, if man could accept it, penetrate the doorway of his heart. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me."5
The supper of the Lord is a communion of hearts that reveals the infinite capacity of the holy fires of Love, together with the spirit of men's devotions, to cross the threshold of man's awareness and transport him into the bliss of God's awareness. This is the toning of the bars of the universe, cascading down the highways of the stars into each heart, uniting all in the mystery of birth, of being, of eternity, of God, of Love.
Devotedly, I remain your brother of the Day,