Part 3

But, somehow, he is not at ease. He feels the pressure of the growing Something Within and becomes quite restless. This goes on from time to time and he seeks the Truth in all directions, rushing from one thing to another in his desire to satisfy the cravings of the Soul, but all the time denying that there is anything to be found. After a time he becomes aware of a new state of consciousness developing within him, and in spite of his mental revolts against any good thing coming from within, he is forced to accept himself in his growing state, and to realize that he may possess a Knowing other than that of the intellect. It may take him a long time to accept this, but so long as he rebels against it and struggles, so long will he feel pain. And only when he catches a glimpse of the true state of affairs does he open himself up to the Divine Unfoldment going on in his Soul, and joyfully welcome the tearing away of confining mental sheaths, which destruction enables the newly born faculty to force its way into the conscious mentality. He learns to even aid in the unfoldment by holding the thoughts conducive to spiritual development, and thus assists in the bringing forth of the new leaf or flower of the Soul. It has always been so. Man has gone through stage after stage of unfoldment, suffering pain each time as the old sheaths are burst asunder and discarded. He is prone to hold on to the old sheaths and to cherish them long after they have served their purpose in his growth. And it is only when he has reached the stage that many men are now coming into a knowledge of that he understands the process of growth and is willing and glad to aid in the development instead of attempting to oppose it. He falls in with the workings of the Law instead of trying to defeat it.

Life is motion. We are moving onward and upward throughout the ages. Man has passed over miles of The Path, but he will have to travel many more before he sees the reason of the journey. But he has now reached the stage where he may see that it all means something--all is a part of a mighty plan--that this is a necessary stage of the journey, and that around the bend of the road are to be found shady trees, and a brook at which he may quench his thirst and wash away the dust of the last few miles.

This hunger of the Soul is a real thing. Do not imagine that it is an illusion--do not endeavor to deny it. If you feel it you may rest assured that your time is coming, and that there will be provided that which will satisfy it. Do not waste your energy in running hither and thither seeking for bread. The bread will be provided when it is most needed. There is no such thing in Life as spiritual starvation. But instead of seeking without for that which will nourish you, look within. At each stage of the journey the traveler will find enough to nourish him for the hour--enough to sustain him until he reaches the next stage. You cannot be denied this nourishment. It is part of the Divine Plan that it be provided for you. If you will look for it in the right place you will always find it, and will be saved much seeking and worrying. Do not be impatient because the feast is not set before you at this stage. Be satisfied with that which is given, for it suffices your needs at the present moment. By and by you will reach the stage when the feast of good things will have been earned, and you will be invited to feast and rest until you are ready for the next stage of the journey.

The great spiritual wave which is now sweeping over the world brings with it great wants, but it also carries with it the means of satisfying those wants. Do not despair.

LOOK ALOFT!

The old sailor's advice--The warning cry--Peace and content--Mental balance recovered--The glory of the Universe--All governed by Law--The Law manifests everywhere--A reverent feeling of calm, peaceful faith--Look aloft.

I recently heard a little tale about a boy who went to sea, in the old days of the sailing vessel. One day he was ordered to go aloft, and was urged on until he reached the highest possible point on the mast. When he found that he could go no farther, he glanced down. The sight terrified him and almost caused him to lose his grip and fall headlong on the deck, far below. He felt dizzy and sick, and it seemed almost impossible for him to maintain his hold on the mast. Far below was the deck, looking so small as compared to the wide expanse of water on all sides of it. The motion made him feel as if he was suspended between heaven and earth, with nothing substantial to support him. He felt his brain reeling and his senses leaving him, and all seemed lost, when far away from the deck below, he heard an old sailor cry, "Look aloft, lad! Look aloft!" Turning his eyes from the scene below the boy gazed upward. He saw the blue sky, the fleecy clouds passing peacefully along, looking just the same as they did when he had looked at them while lying on his back on the green grass of the meadows in his country home. A strange feeling of peace and content came over him, and the feeling of dread, terror and despair passed away. His strength and presence of mind came back to him, and soon he was able to slide down the mast until he grasped a friendly rope, thence to the lower rigging, and on until the deck was again reached.

He never forgot the old sailor's advice given in the hour of need, and when he would feel dazed and fearful of danger, he would invariably look aloft until he recovered his mental balance.

We may well take a leaf from the old sailor's note-book, and impress his wisdom upon our minds. There's nothing so good in hours of trial, doubt, sorrow and pain, as to "look aloft." When we feel that we cannot see clearly with our spiritual vision--that our spiritual sight is blurred and dim--that we lose faith and confidence, hope and courage--that we feel the deadly sensation of despair and hopelessness creeping over us and benumbing our senses, stilling our heart--then is the time for us to listen to the warning shout: "Look aloft, lad; look aloft!"

When all seems lost--when darkness is closing around us--when we seem to have lost our foothold and have no way of regaining it--when all appears hopeless, gloomy and dreadful--when faith seems to have deserted us, and the chill of unbelief is on us--then is the time for us to shout to ourselves, "Look aloft--look aloft!"

When we try to solve the riddle of the universe--the problem of existence--by the aid of the intellect, unsupported by faith. When we ask our intellects, "Whence come I? Whither go I? What is the object of my existence? What does Life mean?" When we travel round and round the weary path of intellectual reasoning, and find that it has no ending. When we shout aloud the question of Life, and hear no answer but the despairing echo of our own sad cry. When Life seems a mockery--when Life seems to be without reason--when Life seems a torment devised by a fiend--when we lose the feeling of nearness to the Infinite Power that has supported us in the past--when we lose the touch of the Unseen Hand. These are the times for us to look upward to the source of Wisdom and Light. These are the times for us to heed the cry of the Soul: "Look aloft; look aloft; look aloft!"

Some clear night, when the moon is not shining, go out into the darkness, and gaze upward at the stars. You will see countless bright spots, each of which is a sun equaling or exceeding in size the sun which gives light and life to our little earth--each sun having its circling worlds, many of the worlds having moons revolving around them, in turn. Look all over the heavens, as far as the eye can reach, and endeavor to grasp the idea of the countless suns and worlds. Then try to imagine that in space, far beyond the reach of human vision, even aided by the telescope, are millions upon millions of other worlds and suns--on all sides of us, on and on and on throughout the Universe, reaching into Infinity. And then remember that all these worlds hold their places and revolve according to Law. And then remember that the microscope shows that Law manifests itself in the smallest thing that can be seen by its use. All around you you will see nothing but the manifestations of Law. And then, remembering that the Infinite, which has us all in charge, takes note of the fall of the sparrow, what has become of your fears and doubts and worries? Gone is your despair and unbelief, and in their place is found a reverent feeling of calm, peaceful Faith.

Aye, there is much good sense in the old sailor's maxim. "When you get rattled, LOOK ALOFT!"

TO-MORROW.

The work and cares of to-day easy if we do not worry about those of To-morrow--The mysterious To-morrow and its terrors--The way to meet the cares of To-morrow--To-morrow's opportunities will come as surely as To-morrow's cares--Law supreme--No need to be afraid--The real To-morrow.

The work of each day would be a pleasure if we would refrain from attempting to perform at the same time the work of to-morrow. The cares of to-day would cease to disturb us, if we would refuse to anticipate the cares of to-morrow. The work of to-day is easily performed, notwithstanding the fact that we spoiled the pleasure of yesterday by fretting about the tasks of the coming day. The cares of to-day do not seem half so terrible as they appeared viewed from the distance of yesterday, nor do we suffer nearly as much from to-day's burdens as we did yesterday in bearing these burdens in anticipation.

To-day is comparatively easy for us, but Oh, to-morrow. Aye, there's the trouble--to-morrow. The past is gone, and its sorrows, cares, troubles, misfortunes and work do not seem so terrible viewed from this distance--the misfortunes of the past are now often known as blessings in disguise. To-day is here, and we seem to be getting along fairly well--excepting fearing the dawn of to-morrow. But to-morrow--Oh! mysterious to-morrow--that delight of the child--that bugaboo of the "grown up"--what shall we say of to-morrow? Who knows what terrible monsters are lurking in its gloomy recesses--what frightful cares are slumbering there--what dreadful shapes are there crouching, with glowering eyes, awaiting our coming? No frightful tale of childhood begins to compare in horror with this fantasy of maturity--to-morrow.

Yesterday, with all its troubles--to-day, with its pressing tasks--affright us not, but to-morrow, ah! to-morrow. Tell us of the morrow! Who knows what a day may bring forth? Tell us how to meet the terrors of to-morrow! Forsooth, an easy task, good friends. The way to meet the terrors of to-morrow is to--wait until to-morrow.

The cares of to-morrow indeed! 'Twould be laughable if it were not so pitiful. To-morrow's cares may come, will come, must come, but what of to-morrow's opportunities, to-morrow's strength, to-morrow's chances, circumstances, helpers? Don't you know that the supply of good things does not cease with the close of to-day? Don't you know that in the womb of the future sleep opportunities intended for your use when the time comes? Don't you know that an earnest, confident expectation of the good things to come will cause these good things to grow for your use in the future? Well, it's so; they'll grow and grow and grow, and then when you need them you will find them ripe and ready to pick. Water them with Faith; surround them with the rich soil of Hope; let them receive the full rays of the sun of Love, and the nourishing fruit of Opportunity will be your reward--to-morrow.

Did you ever shiver with dread at the thought of what would happen if the sun should not rise to-morrow? Did you ever doubt that the grass would grow and the trees take on leaves next Spring? Did you ever fear that perhaps the Summer would not come? Oh, no, of course not! These things have always happened and you have sufficient faith to know that they will occur again. Yes, but you have been fearing that opportunities, chances, circumstances, may not be present to-morrow. Oh, ye of little faith do you not know that this is no world of chance? Do you not know that you are working under the operations of a great Law, and that these things are as much amenable to that Law as are the seasons, the crops, the motion of the earth, the planets, this and countless other solar systems, the UNIVERSE!

The Law which regulates the motions of the millions of worlds, and whose jurisdiction extends over Space--that Space the abstract idea of which cannot be grasped by the puny intellect of man of to-day--also takes cognizance of the tiny living organism too small to be seen through our strongest microscope. The sparrow's fall comes under the Law as well as the building of a magnificent series of solar systems. And yet, man fears to-morrow.

Of all living beings, man alone fears to-morrow. Children, lovers and philosophers escape the curse. The first two look forward to it with joy and confidence, having the love that casteth out fear; the philosopher's reason teaches him that which the intuition of the other two has grasped. The child intuitively recognizes that the infinite supply is inexhaustible and naturally expects to-morrow's supply as he does to-morrow's sun. He has faith in the Law, until Fear is suggested into his receptive mind by those who have grown old enough to fear. The child knows that "there are just as good fish in the sea as ever were caught," but the "grown-up" fears that to-day's fish is the last in the sea, and fails to appreciate to-day's haul by reason of his worry about the possible future failure of the fishing industry.

Oh No! I do not believe in just sitting down and folding my hands and waiting for "mine own to come to me." I know that "mine own will come to me," because I am doing well the work that the Law has placed before me to do--that which lies nearest to my hand to-day. I believe in work, good work, honest work, cheerful work, hopeful work, confident work. I believe in the joy of work--the pleasure of creating. And I believe that he who does his best work one day at a time working with faith, hope and confidence in the morrow, with Fear eliminated from his mind and replaced with Courage--I believe, I say, that such a man will never find his cupboard empty, nor will his children want for bread.

And furthermore, I believe that to-morrow is what we make it by our thoughts to-day. I believe that we are sowing thought-seeds to-day, which will grow up over night and bear fruit to-morrow. I believe that "Thought takes form in Action," and that we are, and will be, just what we think ourselves into being. I believe that our minds and bodies are constantly being molded by our thoughts, and that the measure of man's success is determined by the character of his thoughts. And I believe that when man will throw off the incubus of Fear, the frightful vision of the night will vanish, and, opening his eyes, in the place of the monster he will see the fair form and smiling face of a radiant creature, who, bending over him with love-lit eyes, will softly whisper, "I am TO-MORROW."

IN THE DEPTHS OF THE SOUL.

Stores of information; rich mines of knowledge; uncut gems and precious metal awaiting the discoverer--Psychic and spiritual faculties--Strange attraction of soul to soul--The Rock of Ages--The Voice of the Soul.

Deep down in the soul are stores of information awaiting to be brought to the surface of consciousness. Rich mines of knowledge are there--uncut gems rest there awaiting the day when they will be uncovered and brought into the bright light of consciousness--rich veins of precious metals are there awaiting in patience the day when some Divine Adventurer will search for them and bring them to light. The human mind is a wonderful storehouse, concealing all sorts of treasures and precious things, only a fraction of which have been discovered so far.

We have faculties not yet recognized by the science of the day--psychic and spiritual faculties--just as real as the recognized faculties, playing an important part in our everyday lives, particularly when we have been made aware of their existence. In many of us these faculties are scarcely recognized, and many of us doubt and deny their very existence. Others have a faint perception of their existence, but do not know how to use them, and get but the slightest benefit from them. Others have awakened to the wonderful faculties which are developing and unfolding within them, and a few have gone so far as to aid in this development of these higher faculties of the mind, and have been almost startled at the results obtained. The Orientals have their ways of development of these faculties, and we Occidentals have ours. Each best serves the purposes of the particular people using it.

As we bring these faculties out of the realm of the super-conscious into the field of consciousness, life takes on an entirely different meaning, and many things heretofore dark are seen plainly and understood. No one can understand the Oneness of things until his spiritual faculties are sufficiently developed to make him _conscious_ of it. Blind belief or reliance upon the words of another will never do for the seeker after Truth that which is accomplished by a single gleam of consciousness resting upon some of the hidden treasures of the soul. One glimpse into the depths of the soul will do more than the reading of thousands of books, the teaching of hundreds of teachers. This glimpse, once had, will never be forgotten. Its reality may be questioned at times--at other times the memory may seem dim and unreliable--but it will return in all its freshness and brightness, and even in the moment of doubt we cannot entirely escape it.

Our real knowledge of the existence of GOD is not obtained from the intellect. We can take up the subject of GOD and reason about it all our life, only to find ourselves, in the end, in a worse muddle than when we started. And yet one single ray of consciousness reaching down into the depths of our inner being will bring to us such a complete certainty of GOD'S existence and being, that nothing afterward will ever shake our faith in the reality and existence of the Supreme Power. We will not understand the nature of his being--his existence--his power--but we will _know_ that he exists, and will feel that peacefulness and infinite trust in him which always come with the glimpse of the Truth. We will not understand any better the many theories of Man regarding GOD and his works; in fact, we will be more apt to turn away, wearied, from Man's discussion of the subject--the attempt of the finite to describe and limit the infinite. But we will _know_ that at the Center of things is to be found that Universal Presence, and we feel that we can safely rest ourselves on his bosom--trust ourselves in his hands. The cares, sorrows and trials of Life seem very small indeed when viewed from the absolute position, although from the relative position this world often seems to be a very hell.

Another glimpse into the recesses of the soul reveals to us the Oneness of things. We see GOD as the great Center of things, and all the Universe as but One. The Oneness of all Life becomes apparent to us and we feel in touch not only with all mankind, but with all life. The petty distinctions of class, race, rank, caste, nationality, language, country fade away and we see all men as brothers. And we feel a kindly feeling and love toward the lesser manifestations of life. Even the rocks and the stones are seen as parts of the Whole and we no longer feel a sense of separateness from any thing. We realize what the Universe is, and in our imagination visit the most distant stars and instinctively know that we would find nothing foreign to us there--all would be but bits of the same thing.

And we begin to understand those strange attractions of soul to soul, instances of which have come to all of us. We realize that it is possible to entertain a feeling of love for every living creature--to every man or woman, the manifestations, of course, varying in degree and kind, according to sex and closeness of soul relation. It makes us more tolerant and causes us to see but ignorance in many things in which we saw but sin before. It makes us feel pity rather than hate. Ah, these little glimpses into the inmost recesses of the soul they teach us many new lessons.

And one of the greatest lessons that we may acquire in this way is the recognition of the eternal life of the soul. We may believe, with greater or less earnestness, in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, our beliefs and conceptions depending more or less upon the teachings which we have received from early childhood, but until we become conscious of that which lies within us, we are never really certain--we do not know. Many good people will deny this statement, and will say that they have never doubted the life of the soul after death, but see how they act. When death comes into their houses they mourn and cry aloud in their agony, and demand of GOD why he has done this thing. They drape themselves in mourning and mourn and weep as if the loved one had been destroyed and annihilated. All of their actions and conduct go to prove that they have no abiding sense of the reality of the continuance of life beyond the grave. They speak of the dead as if they were lost forever--as if a sponge had been passed over the slate of life and naught remained. How cold and hollow sounds the would-be comforting words of friends and relatives, who assure the mourning ones that the being who has just laid aside the body is "better off now," and that all is "for the best," and all the rest of conventional expressions that we make use of. I tell you that one who has had a glimpse into what lies within him knows so well that he is eternal that he finds it impossible to look upon death in the ordinary way, and if he is not very careful he will be regarded as heartless and unfeeling for the sorrows of others. And he will be regarded as a fool in his views of life by those around him who attend church regularly every Sunday, and who profess a full belief in all its doctrines. If he considers that he himself is his soul, and that he is as much an immortal being now as he ever will be--that his body is but as a garment to cover him, or an instrument through which he manifests himself--if he considers that he is in eternity now just as much as he ever will be; that he cannot be destroyed by Mt. Pelee eruptions or railroad accidents--if, in short, he feels these things so strongly that they have become a part of his real everyday life--why, he is looked upon as "queer" by those who hear these things taught them every Sunday, and who would feel horrified if they were accused of harboring a doubt regarding them. This is one of the things that go to show the difference between "believing" a thing and "being conscious" of it.