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To understand from the divine level is totally different than to understand from the level of the human consciousness. The first vision is of all perfection; the second varies greatly in its comprehensions of Life. Yet surely all can understand, if they will, that Life's purposes were woven into the universal fabric of creative opportunity and that in the beginning every soul was given the same opportunity, the same radiant goal.
It is often difficult to convince men and women of the temporal power they wield. They do not understand why they cannot seem to make contact with God. All hindrances, inasmuch as they do not emanate from the Godhead or from the divine plan, must of necessity come from another source. As there is only one Source of power, wisdom, and love in the universe, only one Godhead and one radiant emanation of that Godhead extending itself throughout the whole domain of time and space, hindrances must originate outside of Being itself, beyond the hallowed circle of Reality.
If you stop and think about it, it is a change in the frequency of your thoughts and feelings, in the attunement of mind and heart, that cuts out the great God-controls which would otherwise make you so effective in mastering your world and taking command of your life. Instead of giving you the victory of your Divine Presence, this step-down in vibration causes you to become attuned with the lower vibrations of defeat and defeatism that are already in the world. These releases do not come from nowhere; therefore they have to come from somewhere. Where is it that they come from if not from the misqualification of Light and consciousness by someone? And when individuals engage in the misqualification of energy, they automatically place themselves at that moment within the bounds of unreality.
Is it possible that men and women can be so simple that they fail to understand that misunderstandings are often compounded as one person catches the ball of someone's misunderstanding and then passes it to another, having added his own misunderstanding to it? As inaccuracies pile up layer upon layer in the minds of people, they retain an electrical impulse that can be transmitted to other minds of a similar frequency. Those who remain constant with their mind fixed on God and the purposes of Love are unmoved by the subtle influences that abound in the mass consciousness; but those who adjust the frequency of their thoughts to negative manifestations rather than to the perfection of their God Presence easily become the victims of all types of human thought and feeling.
It is with a view to showing mankind the way to deliverance that I speak. Unless people are able to escape those thoughts and feelings that are not to their liking, they will be affected to a greater or lesser degree by the thoughts and feelings of others. How easy it is through the generation of excitement to attract mankind's attention and then lead him where you want him to go. It is not that we recommend that individuals always hold to thoughts of suspicion; it is simply that a certain amount of soul vigilance is required in order for men to achieve the goal of spiritual discernment lest they be swept out of the way by a flood of human opinions.
The greatest tragedies of life have arisen from those dogmas that through the years have aborted mankind's true sense of Reality - ideas, for example, that create feelings of distrust, doubt, and fear. In the matter of reembodiment, how frequently those in orthodox circles, whose fathers and forefathers before them have leaned upon what they term Christian traditions, feel that any instruction on the subject is a dividing of the way. They but pinpoint the fact that their devotion to my Son and to his great example is secondary to their devotion to a false teaching based upon the doctrines of those who have proved themselves to be lovers of man rather than lovers of God. This is a great misfortune; for when individuals have believed a certain thing for many years, their feelings gradually intensify concerning the absoluteness of their belief. This often prevents a clear seeing of the structures of Life.
Some base their rejection of a teaching upon a single tenet or an idea taken out of context without understanding the need to "try the spirits"1 and to "in patience possess their souls."2 When I consider the numbers of wars that have been fought and the conflicts that have been engaged in by mortal men in defense of political or religious ideals, I pray that more men and women will develop that strength of character which will afford them a greater degree of tolerance for one another's views and their right to hold them and thus bring about a state of peace on earth with good will to all.3
The concept of reembodiment is one of the ancient truths which were handed down by men of God long before the Christian era. The way of life of the majority of the world's population was at one time completely oriented around this idea. They understood the continuity of existence - that God had not planned for souls to come into the world with one chance for salvation and then to be either accepted or rejected at the hour of judgment. Don't you see how in keeping with the mercy of God the divine plan is, as renewed opportunity for self-mastery is given to the soul lifetime after lifetime? For each embodiment is like a day in itself. It is an epoch during which the individual is expected to master certain aspects of life, to understand how he can gain spiritual stature and at the same time convey peace and harmony to his fellowmen.
Because of world conflicts and the generation of a sense of conflict within the human consciousness, I urge upon all the understanding that the mind of man in reality need not be so vulnerable that those who have pursued God for years will allow themselves to be cast down and destroyed by a sudden wind of doctrine or some new religious philosophy. For men can submit their hearts to God without necessarily submitting their minds to dogma. Dogma is like unto dead letter; it does not contain in and of itself the spiritual potential, which man himself must invoke, of bringing comfort and understanding to humanity. The Holy Spirit does. The Presence of God does. Therefore let men learn to be in contact with the living essence of the Spirit of Truth rather than with the manifestation of the letter that killeth.4
What a pity it is that through the years so many conflicts have raged concerning so many things. If men would only realize that a fair consideration, an objective analysis, of what some have termed the hidden side of life is not wrong. There are those who feel that if a man even contemplates an idea that is foreign to his established beliefs or accepted tradition, he is consorting with evil. Oh, how many more evil things there are in the world than that! There is far greater potential for evil in mankind's associations with one another - the way in which they live, their behavior toward and regard for their fellowman. A man's actions remain the supreme test of his philosophy; and these are far more important than his meat or his drink, what he concedes in his mind or what he does not.
For all is well
If all will tell
The soul perfection within them
To express, to unfold,
To release, to behold
A new heaven and a new earth,5
A new mind and a new heart,
Cleansed by the ongoing of the Spirit
That leads and guides men
Into all Truth.6
Nevertheless, it is very necessary in the disciplining of the mind and the tethering of the heart's devotion to the Law for men to adhere to some form of ritual and certain tenets of faith. It is almost impossible to think that man in this day and age would have no religious teaching whatever; but his consideration of the gentle activities of cosmic law, as they unfold within his understanding, should help him more through the open door that leads to Reality than through the closed door that signifies a closed understanding and a search that ended before it was begun.
Will you think about that razor's edge, that fine line which enables you to contemplate the nature of Truth, to understand the precepts of the Law, and ask God to lead you into the paths of righteousness for His name's sake?7
How mighty indeed would be our thrust for Light's purpose if men would bring themselves into harmony with the universe and with one another! When they see each meeting as a confrontation between opposing philosophies, a testing of egos, when they transfer thoughts of fear and failure to one another, they lose the balance of the Middle Way and quite frequently do not recover their loss in the space of a lifetime. Would it not be better, rather than sparring with the world, if men sought to please God and to know Him - not to know Him merely through the eyes of mentors and friends, but to know Him for themselves, that they may be justified by the Holy Spirit that is even now leading the race into all Truth?
For the glory of peace in the religious world, I remain