in light of the spirit christian d.larson.pdf

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BR/GHAM YOUNG UN/VERs/nPROVO, UTAH


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Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2011 with funding fromBrigham Young University

http://www.archive.org/details/inlightofspiritOOIars


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THE LARSON BOOKSBrains and How to Get Them Net, $1.25Business Psychology -. . . ~ ^ _ . ... ... . . 1.00

1.001.251.001.00

The Ideal Made Real ; or Applied Meta-physics for Beginners . . . ... . . ~ 1.00

The Pathway of Roses 1.25What is Truth 1.00Your Forces and How to Use Them... 1.25

POISE AND POWER SERIESCloth, net $ .50, postage extraHow Great Men Succeed.Just Be Glad.Mastery of Fate.Mastery of Self.The Mind Cure.My Ideal of Marriage.Nothing Succeeds Like Success.On the Heights.Perfect Health.Poise and Power.Scientific Training of Children.The Great Within.The Hidden Secret.Thinking for Results.


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IN THELIGHT OF THE SPIRIT

BYCHRISTIAN D. LARSON

Author ofThe Pathway of Roses, The Ideal Made Real,

The Hidden Secret, On The Heights,Just Be Glad, Mastery of Fate,The Great Within, Your

Forces and How to UseThem, etc. etc.

NEW YORKTHOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANYPUBLISHERS


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Copyright, 1916,Br CHRISTIAN D. LARSON

BR1GHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY


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CONTENTSCHAPTER

I.PAGE

II. The Highest Prayer . * . .


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IN THE LIGHT OF THESPIRITCHAPTER I

LEAVE IT TO GODWhen you are confronted with problems that

you cannot solve, or find yourself in the midstof conditions that are distressing and adverse,do not permit yourself to become disturbed fora moment. There is a simple secret that will in-variably set you free and change everything forthe best. And the secret is thisLeave It ToGod.When you do not know what course to pursue,

leave it to God. When you do not know whereto turn, or how to dispel the darkness that maysurround you, then leave it to God. When youdo not know where the path to the greatest goodmay lie, and have not become conscious of thatsupreme light of the soul through which all thingsmay be discernedrest serenely in the faith thatyou can leave it all to God. In his hands every-


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2 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITthing is safe ; and whatever we place in his hands,will be disposed of in the best conceivable man-ner.

It is remarkable how soon darkness takesflight, how soon confusion is stilled, how soonconditions adjust themselves and how soon ad-versities change into blessings, when we can say,in perfect faith, and in perfect sincerity of soul- Leave It To God. For thus we place every-thing in the keeping of a Wisdom that knowswhat should be done, and in the hands of a Powerthat can do what is best for all concerned.

It is the best for everybody that we all desire;it is the happiest outcome of everything that wepray for as the most perfect ideal of visible ex-istence ; and we know full well that such an idealwill surely be realized when we leave it to God.The Infinite can solve our problems, and so ar-range all things in life, that the greatest good wrillcome to pass, regardless of time, place or circum-stances. And we should not hesitate to seek thesuperior guidance of the Infinite in this regard,whether our problems be great or small, mo-mentous or insignificant. Whatever the mattermay be, we should leave it to God. The sun willsoon shine once more, and all will be well again.There are many things we may wish to do,

but do not know whether to begin now or later.There is some one, however, who does know; and


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LEAVE IT TO GODif we leave it to Him, something will happen todelay the matter, if that is best, or to bring abouta speedy beginning, if that is best. And after-wards, when we see how delightfully all thingsworked out, we will be gladvery glad, that wedid say, when in doubtLeave It To God/'We frequently come to places where the wholeworld seems to be against us ; when every friendseems to be gone; and when adversity seems tomake life a useless desert of waste and desolation.But at such times we should not be disheartenedor dismayed. There is a way to freedom.There is a Light that is stronger than all thedarkness in the world. There is a Power thatcan change everything in our entire destiny.There is a Love that can bring to us the friend-ship and the sympathy of all mankind. Thenwhy should we ever be discouraged or sad?There is a royal path that leads out of, and away,from all adversities. And we may find that pathif we leave it to God.When we can say, in perfect faith and sin-cerity of soul, that we will leave it to God, weplace ourselves in that state of being where thepower of the Infinite can work for us, andthrough us, to the end that the best may surelycome to pass. The Infinite is always at hand,waiting to be of service; but we must be will-ing to accept such service ; and we do accept when


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4 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITSwe can say with depth of sincerityLeave It

Then we must know, and fully believe, thatwhat we leave to God to do, will be done right;and we must realize that when anything is doneright, every trace of evil, sin, pain or sorrow iseliminated completely. God will never bringsickness, pain, want or death to any human soul.It is not the will of God that any human beingshould suffer, or be deprived of anything that isgood in the world. The ways of the Infinite donot lead into pain and privation, but always intogreater freedom, greater good, greater power,greater joy. ,, ..*..,-,-? -----When we leave anything to God, we may knowthat the wrong alone will be taken away; thegood will remain and be multiplied again andagain, without end and without measure. Wemay rest assured, therefore, that nothing that isworthy or good or beautiful will be lost whenwe leave things to God. The kingdom of theSupreme, with all its riches and glory, is forman; but man must be willing to receive; andhe does express perfect willingness when he cansay, with the faith of the soul, that he will, hence-forth, leave everything tQ.God^Whatever there is in life that we wish tochange, remedy or perfect, the simple secret isthisLeave It To God. And we should make


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LEAVE IT TO GOD 5this statement in that deep feeling of the soulthat knowsthat feeling that seems to say to usthat our wish will be realized, our prayer willbe answeredthe best will come to pass. Intruth, how could it be otherwise? God wouldnot have it otherwise; therefore, when we leaveall things to Him, we may know that the out-come will be all that we could have wished forand infinitely more.


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CHAPTER IITHE HIGHEST PRAYER

We know that the prayer of the righteousavaileth much ; but we also know there are manyprayers that seemingly are not answeredprayers that are sincere, and that come from soulsthat we know to be righteous. And accordingly,the question arises again and again, how weshould so pray that we may not pray in vain.When we consider the subject of prayer, how-ever, and examine the true spiritual significanceof prayer, we find that we have, in the past, mis-taken both the purpose of prayer and the atti-tude of the Infinite toward the needs of man.We find, in the first place, that God has alreadygiven his kingdom to man ; and therefore we neednot ask for anything whatever. There is noth-ing we can ask for that we have not already re-ceived. Why then should we ask again, or prayin any form or manner?We find in the second place, that although Godhas given us everything, still we do not alwaysgain personal possession of the gifts of his in-

6 ^ '


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8 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITthrough, because I am in God, and God is in me.We affirm, God is giving me power ; God isgiving me peace ; God is giving me increase ;God is giving me the gifts of the spirit. Inbrief, whatever we find that we need in life, phys-ically, mentally or spiritually, we affirm that Godis now giving us all these things. And this isabsolutely true. God is closer than breathing;therefore knows what we need every hour, andsupplies every need at once, whatever that needmay be.We shall find a remarkable difference in theworking out of all our circumstances, materialand spiritual, when we change our mode ofprayer; that is, when we no longer implore theInfinite to give us what we need, but affirm, withsincere thanksgiving, that God is giving us althese things now.God is eternally giving to man the all good of

life; and\God is giving to each human soul everfoday what is needed for that day. It would there-fore be wrong to implore God to do what He al-ready is doing. Instead, we should recognizeHis goodness by speaking this truthGod is/now giving me all that I needL And in addi-tion, we should give expression to our most sin-cere and heartfelt gratitude. . -,^_When we recognize, in spirit and in truth,what God is doing for us, we enter into harmony


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fc

THE HIGHEST PRAYERu 9

with the act of his giving; and accordingly, wereceive every day everything that is given to us

' for that day. But when we do not recognize thisgreat truth, we are not in harmony with any-thing that the Supreme may be doing for us ; andtherefore -we do not receive, at the right timeand place, what has truly 5een given to us asour very own. And possibly we may never re-ceive those gifts in this life, but may have todepend altogether upon our own efforts for every-thingefforts that are sometimes disappointing,and frequently ineffectual.The truth is, however, that no soul is destined

to depend upon personal efforts alone. We allmust, indeed, use our powers and talents well;but we can accomplish but little if we work en-tirely alone, that is, apart from higher power anddivine guidance. Great souls invariably seekconstant assistance from the Supreme; and wher-ever they go, they always walk with God.Such souls invariably recognize the great law, My Father worketh and I work, and enter intothg__spiritua1 rea1izHtiQn.Q.that law absolutely.

ust take God with us in all things.would rise above mere exTstence/'and be true to

Qtfie wonderful life we have been given the priv-/ ilege to live. , And we do take God with us in all

things when we constantly recognize the truththat God is with us always, and that He is giving )


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io IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITtjis every Hour what we. need to make that hourfull, perfect and complete, jWhen we understand this law, tfiat God isconstantly giving to man everything that isjtjgc-essary to make life all that we wish it to be, andplace ourselves in perfect harmony with that la,w,we shall find that every need will be supplied* inits true place and time. The right way will al-ways open through which we may gain what wedesire, and realize the ideals that the great eter-nal now holds in store.

Every day will be full to overflowing withblessings oF every conceivable state or being.Every succeeding day will become richer andlarger than the days that have gone before>ecome more and more conscious'bTThe

that God is giving us ever,'n imwmmmmmmfmmmfmmmmmmiis needed to make this theJgjKpR^ And in all our efforts we will be

guided, to the end that we may invariably dowhat is bestknowing that higher power will bewith us so long as we live and work for the largerlife and the greater good.


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12 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITWhen we examine these spiritual divisions

more closely we find that they naturally arrangethemselves into two special divisions, one of thesemuch larger than the other. The larger divisiontakes the literal view, believing in literal methodswith which to save a literal soul from literal suf-fering, in a literal, localized future. The smallerdivision, however, takes the spiritual view, giv-ing the literal phase of all life an insignificantposition.

In all ages we have found these two specialdivisions, the two sometimes blending in placesso that a distinct line of demarcation could notbe readily drawn. But regardless of this inter-blending, the two principal factorsthe literaland the spiritualhave always been prominent,the one always standing apart from the other.And the reason for this is readily found whenwe know that we have had, in every age, whatmay be called children in the faith; that is, menand women whose spiritual understanding hasnot been developed sufficiently to enable them togo beyond the literal significance of things. Andwe have also had, in every age, the enlightened,who could discern the spiritual elements that arewithin all things.We all are familiar with the literal conceptionof the soul and its salvation; and we know thatit contains but a fragment of the whole truth.


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THE RELIGION OF THE SOUL 13It is the best, however, that the children in thefaith can understand; therefore we must be tol-erant, and also thankful that they have actuallyentered upon the great spiritual journeythegoal of which is complete emancipation, soul mas-tery and spiritual illumination. But we are notso familiar with the spiritual conception of thiseternal theme. And as the spiritual conceptionwill henceforth become more and more prom-inent in all the great religionsthe advancementof the race towards the spiritual having becomemore pronounced than ever before in historyit will be well to give closer attention to its realor interior significance.

According to the spiritual understanding oflife and its purpose, the saving of the soul meansthe living of a life which will prevent the soulfrom stepping outside of the path at any time ; inbrief, saving life from all those adverse conse-quences that invariably follow when the soul,even for a short time, steps out of the true path-way of life. Salvation therefore according totrie spiritual view, is not merely for the future,or for the great eternal now, but for every mo-ment in eternity.The true pathway of life is the eternal path ofan endless ascensionthe soul rising ever and

ever into higher and higher states of existence.It is the path of Wisdom and light, the path of


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14 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITfreedom and truththe straight and narrowpaththe path leading directly towards the spir-itual heights; but it is not a path of suffering.There is neither suffering nor bondage upon thispath. It is only when we step outside.jtfeis paththat we suffer. So long as we are on the path,then all is welCand we are daily rising into moreperfect realizations of larger joys, higher statesof being and a greater measure of all that isworthy and good.

This being true, we have everything to gain,both of things temporal and of things eternal, byso living that the soul is always on the path.And what is more, every soul was created tofollow the pathmust sooner or later begin tofollow the path absolutely in order to work outits own sublime destiny. Knowing this, we real-ize that we have nothing to gain through delay.Every moment spent outside the path simplymeans more suffering for the near future; whileevery moment spent upon the path means morereal enjoyment, more wisdom, more power, agreater measure of freedom and a larger life forthe near future.

It is absolutely true that what time we spendoutside the path is time wasted, for what expe-rience we may gain on the outside is of no valueto the soul in its advancement towards master-ship and illumination. On the contrary, such ex-

i4


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THE RELIGION OF THE SOUU 15perience is a burden that will have to be castaside before we can proceed on our upward jour-ney. Here we must remember that the only ex-perience that will prove of value is that whichwe gain while living uncompromisingly upon thetrue eternal pathway. It is only sound princi-ples that will avail when we meet problems forsolution. It is only light that can add to themeasure of light. And it is only on the path thatlight can be found.When the soul steps outside of this path, it islost ; and continues lost so long as it remains out-side the path. But the moment the soul returnsto the path, it is savedsaved for the present,but not necessarily for the entire future. Weare living only for the nowthe great eternalnow, and every moment in the future must carefor itself. The steps we take to-day are suffi-cient for this day ; therefore all our prayers mustbe, Just For To-day.

Salvation therefore is a spiritual process thatmust ever be presentsomething we shall heedevery hour. For although we may be saved nowon the path nowwe may at any time step outagain if we do not continue to live absolutely ac-cording to the principles of divine truth. Andwhen we step out of the path, the soul is lostagain for the time being ; it has gone astray, andis going wrong, going contrary to the laws of its


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16 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITbeing. The result will be pain and suffering, sothat the lost soul is more or less in torment ; andthat torment never ceases so long as the soul con-tinues to be lost, or continues on the outside ofthe path. Here then we find the origin of thebelief in ceaseless or endless torment for the lostsoul; for torment is ceaseless on the outside ofthe path. But the other side of that same truthis this, that the soul can be saved at any timecan at any time in eternity step in on the pathagain and be free.The cause of all suffering is found in this tend-

ency of the soul to step outside of the paththepath provided by the infinite laws of eternal as-cension. And the cause of this tendency isfound in the soul's natural desire for growththis desire, in its undeveloped stages, promptingthe mind to seek all places for experience andtruth. Thus the misdirection of mental actionis originated, and the soul turns frequently, bothto the left and the right, hoping to find the onething we all seekthe life more abundant, know-ing instinctively that a greater measure of lifewill bring a greater measure of all other thingsneeded in the living: of a full life.The life more abundant, however, can be real-

ized only as our living on the path becomes moreand more perfect. Therefore, the functions ofa true religion are to help man live continually


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THE RELIGION OF THE SOUU 17on the path, and to live the life on the path moreand more perfectly. Every effort made by realreligion must have this one object in viewtohelp every soul to live on the path continually.It is only in this way that a religion can be trueto its purposeto save the souland to be whatit was founded to bea religion of the soul.

This gives us a new view of religiona muchlarger view ; and it is a view that makes religionindispensable. It makes religion the greatestpower in the life of man, both in the temporaland the spiritual; for if religion applied its fullpower, then every soul would be saved now,would be on the path now, and therefore wouldneither produce suffering for itself nor forothers. Every soul would be living for the good,would be building for the good, and would con-stantly add to the peace, the joy and the welfareof all. And this is the very condition of life wehave all hoped to see established upon earth ; butwe have not given sufficient attention to the prin-cipal thing.The principal thing is to keep the soul on the

path continuallyto keep every soul on the pathcontinually. And this is the work of religionthe true religionthe religion of the soul. Werealize therefore what a tremendous power thereligions of the world would become if they wouldrise out of the literal into the spiritual; if they


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18 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITall would work ceaselessly to save every soul nownot from future torment, but from wrong liv-ing in the present; if they would give less atten-tion to the helping of man to die, and more at-tention to the helping of man to liveto live onthe path, here and now in this world.The coming religion, which will be in every

sense of the term a religion of the soul, will con-cern itself directly with this great workthegreatest work of all the worldthat of guidingthe soul of man so perfectly that we all may livecontinually on the path, and thus be saved fromevery pain and ill nowa complete salvationboth for time and eternity.

In working for such a salvation, however, thecoming religion will not forget the great truththat the soul must, in order to continue on thepath, continue to move forward on the path.For we know full well that we almost invariablystep out of the path the moment we cease to moveforward. Therefore, the true religion of thesoul must be prepared to teach the human raceall the principles of a continuous spiritual attain-ment; and must possess a science of livingthrough which any individual can learn the sub-lime art of living on the path. Thus we realizethat religion in the future will become a fargreater factor in human life than it has ever beenin the past. And instead of dying out, as some


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THE RELIGION OF THE SOUL 19believe, religion is being born againborn intothe consciousness of its real missionthat ofhelping the human race to live On the Path herein this worldsaving the soul of man from allthe ills of life in the great eternal now.The spiritual conception of the saving of the

soul is in perfect harmony with the central ideaof salvationthat of going to heaven; for thesoul, when on the path, is going directly toheaven; in truth, is in the beginning of a heav-enly life, and is steadily rising into higher andhigher heavens eternally.To be on the path is to be one with God ; and

to be one with God is surely a foretaste ofheaven; it is the beginnings of the joys that can-not be measured, of the peace that passeth un-derstanding, of the bliss that angels alone canknow. Then we must remember that to be onthe path is to be free from every ill in the world

and that in itself is heaven enough for many and many a day.ToJive...on the path, however, is not merely a

secret to freedom from the ills of temporal lifeas important as that may be. It is far morethan this, for it is a paththe only path thatleads to the spiritual heights, to all the gloriesand splendors of cosmic existence, to all the sub-lime attainments of the master stateto thathigher world of wisdom and power wherein the


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20 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITsoul of man shall be able to fulfill the great prom-ise, 'What I have done, ye shall do, and evengreater things.

It is such a goal, high and wonderful as it maybe, that lies before us all. It is such a futurethat is in store for every human soul. But toreach that goal, and realize that future, we mustfollow the path. Is it not important thenmoreimportant than all else in the worldthat welive on the path continually, never for a momentturning to the right nor to the left. And it isindeed time that all religions and all spiritualmovements consecrate themselves absolutely tothis great and wonderful work.The world is awakening to the spiritual vision.The race is no longer satisfied with the limita-tions of the letter. And the individual wants aplan of salvation that will save the soul both fortime and for eternitythat will give completeemancipation now. And the religion of the soulis coming to answer the calla religion that willhelp the soul of man to live, On the Path, herein this world, in the great eternal now.


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CHAPTER IVTHE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF LIFE

When we examine our mode of living, we shallfind that we dwell upon the spiritual side of lifeonly upon rare and occasional intervals, whilemost of the time we permit consciousness to comeout into the personality and sometimes remainfor days, weeks, or months, upon the personalside of existence; we find that during this periodsoul activity becomes passive, and in consequencefHe personality does not have the benefit of thatgreater spiritual power which is necessary in or-der that we may meet and overcome every prob-lem and condition in life.

This being true, it is most important that welearn to live, more and more , upon the spiritualside of consciousness so that we may gain pos-session of a larger measure of this higher powerwhich alone can give emancipation to the person-ality and higher wisdom to mind and intellect.Wp realize that we are not here to drift with

the stream, or to fold our arms passively and saythat we will let the best come to pass. Thetruth is, that if there be anything we want* we

_ '2121


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22 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITmust work for it. If we wish to make life ideal,we must make it so ourselves. : These things donot come to us simply through mere passivity orexpectation. We know that we are living in animperfect world, a world which is in the processof growth; therefore, we necessarily meet unde-veloped conditions on every side; and if we re-main in a passive condition, or simply drift withthe stream, many of those undeveloped conditionswill come into our own world, and not only dis-turb the order of our personal existence, but pro-duce a great many adverse conditions, bothwithin ourselves and in our environment. Forthis reason, we must make ourselves strongerthan all those conditions; that is, we must riseabove adversity both in wisdom arid in power*;and this is made possible only through the con-tinuous expression of the soul.To this end we must permit the spiritual side

of life to have full and continuous expression,both in mind and in body ; and we shall find, un-der those circumstances, that we will continueto have that mastery of self, of life, of feeling,of conditions, of tendencies, that will always en-able us to be equal to any condition that mayarise, and that will enable us to state positivelythat none of these things move me/' In brief,we will be above them all, and stronger than themall, because we have permitted the life and the


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THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF LIFE 23power of the spiritual side to come forth ingreater and greater measure.

Herewith a question of vast importance willarise ; and it refers to the idea of whether or notit is desirable to live wholly upon the spiritualside. There is a belief current that we mayweaken the personal side if wre live too much inthe spiritual ; tmt nothing could be farther from

-the truth. We know that when we are function-ing on the spiritual side we are constantly placingin action more and more of those higher spiritualforces that we become conscious of upon the spir-itual side ; and in consequence we give expressionto more life than we ever realized befdre. Theresult will be, that both the life and the powerof the personality will increase remarkably; andwe shall have more strength, vitality and energy,both in mind and in body, than we ever had be-fore.

Realizing this truth, we know that if we wishto meet a personality that is thoroughly filledwith life we must always look for a personalitywith soul; and a personality with soul is a per-sonality where the soul has begun to express it-self to a much larger degree than usual. Butwhen we meet a personality without soul, we findthe reverse condition. True, the soul is there,but it is not expressed; and the greater powersare there, but they are not expressed, simply re-


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24 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITmaining in passivity. So therefore, the reverseof the above belief is the truth; and inconse-quence, the more attention we give to the spir-itual side, the stronger and more powerful webecome, not only in soul, but also in mind andbody.There is, however , truth in the belief \ha.\ cer-

tain people sometimes appear to become phy_s-jcally weak when they begin to give marked at-tention to the spiritual jflg[j but we shall firreUtiatthose People are in reality not giving attent ion)

the spiritual side,/ \yhn we analyze theirminds we will find that they have not come incontact with real spiritual power, but haye_sirn-)ly been dreaming of the mystical^

s of mind are not mrtducive to physical, mtal, or spiritual powjes^ ...When vou become Conscious of the i dcome in contact with powerful forces: and vouwill have to take control of them all and holdthem in your possession if vou wjfib to realizeevery gain that is rnaHe possible ffarpiiorh thp r-ttn-sciousness of such forces. However, if you donot take hold of those forces and control tEenieriectly nothing will be gained. cThis is tnebason why a great many people, wTho touch tfii

interv^l^,^ll^- -i^g^experience, but do not gain in spinttfel


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THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF LIFE 25Considering this subject further, we should re-

member the principle involved; that is, that thebuilding uo of life on the personal side and onthe mental side, as well as on the spiritual side ,

can be carried fOTWgfffonly through the trainingof consciousness to make the spiritual side its

^chiei place oT lunctioning; and ^p ay gfiH aQk_ what we should do first in order that this goalmay be realized. /To begin? we must study the

,

_

r 1 v tii a H . Si ~ *^ x t ,1 mmspiritual side just as thoroughly as wp Vmyp, hppnstudying the physical side; and accordingly we^must begin at once to apply the


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26 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITourselves gaining a deeper and deeper under-standing of the mysteries of the kingdom. Wewill become lamiliar with our own spiritual na-ture ; and we may continue this process of higherand greater understanding of the upper side ofexistence for any length of time. Then we shallfind that whenever we take another step in TEEtdirection, thus increasing the power of conscious-^ness to function spiritually, the soul will expressitself, both in mind and in body, in added meas-ure to corresponds

Returning to the original idea when the soul_is fully and completely expressed in the person-alitv, the physical or visible side of life wilhbe

^ fillpH with tVip lifrVjj- ^nd the power of the spiritand the more perfectly we understand this truth ,the more Tully we realize thafphysical

^as well as weakness of character or ofnaturally disappear as we advance in theexpres-sion of th6^_gt/T>through the life of the person-ality. And we shall also find that the tendencyjrfjhe |]iiman rninrl tq drift with the strggm. or

^to g-p underTwhen in the midst of adversity, is

due entirely to the fact that consciousness func-tions too much on the outside, thereb^eing lim-ited both in wisdom and in power; that is, thepersonality under thosp rirciirnqfanrpg iq Cnnt-strong enough to overcome adversity, or to createits own conditions and its own life,


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THE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF LIFE 27The great change begins, hgffiSBBL Htfafig w*

step over the border, and proceed to direct con-sciousness to function more and more-ttpoQ thespiritual side; ior the Truth is


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CHAPTER V3?HE RIGHT HANDED PATH

In every generation, and in every clime, menand women have appeared who were in posses-sion of remarkable power; but they all did notseem to gain their power from the same source.Among them were many who depended upon theInfinite alone, while others made no secret of thefact that they were the instruments of invisibleentities. And in many instances the latterseemed to exercise just as great a power, and justas high a power, as the former. Much inquirytherefore has arisen among all who are in searchof higher spiritual power, as to what course topursue; whether to go directly to God for thispower, or to go to mediators in the realms of theinvisible.

In all these things there is one infallible guideby their fruits ye shall know them but insearching for the fruits or the consequences, wemust not examine isolated circumstances only;we must examine the whole life, from: . be^jfflriugto end, of the one who. has the power ; and alsoexamine the results of that power uj>on all thathave come directly under its influence.

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30 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITWhen we pursue such a course, we shall find

that all those who are in possession of remark-able power, naturally array themselves into twoseparate and distinct groups; the oiie group de-pending absolutely upon the Infinite for all spir-itual power, and the other group depending prin-cipally upon invisible orders, invisible help-ers, or invisible entities of some kind. And aswe pursue this course to its ultimate state or con-dition, we find, that the one group follows un-mistakably the right-handed path, leading di-rectly into eternal light, while the other groupfollows the left-handed path leading eventuallyinto utter darkness.To all appearances, both groups may seem tobe, in the beginning, on the same paththe pathof true spiritual power; and they all may seemto be prompted by the highest and purest mo-tives ; but as the two groups advance, farther andfarther, upon their respective pathways, a markeddifference begins to arise between them ; and thisdifference becomes greater and greater until itfinally becomes an impassable gulf.At first sight, there may seem to be nothing

wrong in receiving higher power directly frominvisible entities; and there may be certain tem-porary periods, or conditions, when such a coursemay be permissible ; but no soul can continue verylong to receive, or borrow spiritual power from


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THE RIGHT HANDED PATH 31other souls, in the invisible, without drifting di-rectly into the left-handed path. And the verymoment any one finds himself upon the left-handed path, the temptation, and the inclination,to use higher power for unholy ends, becomesstronger and stronger until the conscious selfgives in almost continually. Besides this, amarked weakening of character and principle be-gins almost at once the soul drifts into thispath ; and finally the desire to resist the tempta-tion to misuse such power almost entirely disap-pears.The principal reason why it is wrong to seek

spiritual power from groups, or orders, or in-visible entities, and why such a course leads di-rectly and inevitably into the left-handed path,will be clearly understood when we realize whatit truly means to grow and advance in spiritualthings. Then we shall be fully convinced of thegreat truth that there is only one way to the lightand the power of the spirit; and that one waymay be defined briefly, in the flaming words ofthe prophet, Return Ye Unto God.We advance spiritually by becoming more andmore conscious of our oneness with the Infinite;and all true spiritual growth depends directlyupon the realization of higher and higher degreesof this very consciousness. But when we pro-ceed to depend upon invisible entities for higher


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32 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITpower, we turn our attention away from the real-ization of oneness with God, and seek, instead,a more perfect unity between ourselves and thoseinvisible groups from which we expect to receivegreater power. We* turn away from the Oneource of power; and whenever we turn away

from that Source we step out of the right-handedpath into the left-handed pathiWe cannot depend upon God unless we dependupon him absolutely. Our eye must be single,otherwise we cannot see the light. We must fol-low the Supreme in all things, or we cannot fol-low him truly in anything. We must turn eitherto the right or to the left. There is no inter-mediary path. If we turn to the left we turnaway from God. But we cannot turn to theright unless we are prepared to depend upon God,absolutely, for all spiritual wisdom, for all spir- of laws injhejgiritual kinômÂnd^when^weWderstand this law^we^jjH kmwTSCjSefj>eret of the seers and'fe^fopHetân^r^llIhespTHtuaTîai

let in the cosmoat have appeared upona

'here is but one Source of true spiritual powefm , _


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THE USE OE SPIRITUAL POWER 63and that Source is the jnfimtejj but the man whoexalts himself does not look to the Infinite forhis power; he looks to his own mind and soul.But here jve must remember_jhat although thehuman soul can give expression to marvelousqwer, stilC ajjJof that power must come, fjom theNuj^mne^JiAnd no oriFcaH^ceiveôwi^raê Supreme~unless the ê^r~stfigt^f piTJ^^nlpremelEroughouTtfie peno3ToFcensSî^^

istenc^T^We fecervF from tfie Soiurceônlyjwhen^rwe Ihink constantly of the Source, aftdêp^narid sptil to thj_diyinelMux^from OriJiigftT

en we humble ourselves befonTGod, we donot depreciate our own worth ; we still know thatwe are created in his image ; and we realize mostkeenly that we are forever one with God ; but werecognize the great truth tha^^jpower comes ^ 3from above, ggdthat God is the source ofl^very-3^thing thatlsTeaTand true in life. We do notxalt ourselves and say, I Have power of my

ôwn ; Tcan depend uporTmyself. Nor do~wgthink of oursHvggg^gfTtnsi^nificant creaturesjTor how can the noblest creation of the Supremebe insignificant?dln truth, how can thoset^ns^be(otherwise than wonderful _indeed wonderful^fiar more woiiderfulJhan wehave ever dreamed. ^THiswe realize perfectl^>ut in the midst of this realizaTionTwe knowât

>wer COtries from Uodjand that we receivew in -nT*T ..... * '


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THE USE OF SPIRITUAL POWER 65^S/ having the powe^jpr ag[ ' doing the wor#

- we transferâttention from the Supreme to^rC^vvÎêrsonarity^Î hen we no longer receivepower from above, and will soon begin to weaken.This we all realize, for how can we be in touchwith the Source after we have turned away fromthe Source ? And how can we receive more andmore from the Source unless we draw nearer andnearer to the Source ?Absolute oneness with God is necessary if weare to gain possession of remarlcabT^lipTnruaTpower; an3This oneness wlfall calTHaHz^rrweTooFtolTodTor eve?yfhmg, ahcTdepend upon Himjor_êry3nng~TrT tEefaith that all our praveyswill be answered without a single exceptign^diat-eyerv(Butthe moment we begi nto 335selves_as]suHici^tiL, we lunr-aw^yrwe sepai

Ives, to a degree, from the Infimtgythg[00r between our own soul and the world of silffcrf power begins to close^m more and mgu1iMTF~we continueTn our self-sufficiency, thatdoor will close almost entirely until the light andthe power of the spirit is, for the time being, shutout from our world.Your own personalityjmay be the channel jfor^

the expression of marvelous ^piriirrst power ;^tneversay thatffihis is my workj 7 ^n7fr^ yer7hTn]you are the author^J^Your worklSHp seek-onetfess with Gojgffil^powerwill follojy7 And.


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66 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITit is the power of the Most High, living^ndjggjj^li^lnVoiTlEarislhe author of fhaTwon*worksoul

that seemingly comes from your mindThis truth we must know} ThisTruth wemust realize more and more perfectly; and themore perfect the realizôn^Qhij^ tnith becomes,

TSTHeepeFwill become our realization of onenesswitF God^^ More and more^^l-feft^^-Êk^ ^^^j^^hdsuFely we will rise towards4hg-gîi


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CHAPTER IXtTHE LIGHT OF INNER CONSCIOUSNESS

_When we function through outer conscious-ness^ only, we are able to_appreciate only thosethings that appeal^ to the physical sensesijQr_Jx)reason, or to the usual states of emotion ;Jthatjs*

^weTIve almost exclusively in the material world,and therefore can have no real underâiiding,,ofthings spmtualT We may believe in the spiritual,and be more or less consciousjof the finer thingsTn^nTânJyet^Tf weTook upon ail things throughjthe light of outer consciousness, we can havejiotrue conception of the spiritual world, or thespirituaFlife. We~3o not reaTIzeTin tKeTeast,whaTiFmeans to be spiritual, or what it means tobe in touch with higher, spiritual power ; and, forthis reason, can neither possess spiritual power,nor respond to the healing or emancipating influ-ence of that powen

o p^sejs^sîtual power, we must be able-lg^j^nctiotyat least to some degree, through the ele-ments of inner consciousness. J\nd the same ly^ruejf wewisIT to_respond to such powe^4êy^slTto be healedfby spiritual powerTwet^^nive^)

67


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68 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITlargely in the world of inner j:onscio^snessJ|)^tcause spIrKuaTl^weF acts only_ througrT'fri^t

They are liyln^on the outsidespiritual realmJhey do not come IrT^ntacFTnany way with the finer, spiritual forces ; and there-fore they are never touched by these forces in anymode or manner. Everybody can, however,learn to enter inner consciousness: and this is in-deed something we all should learn to the mosperfect degree this very day. .

eywho do live, to some degree, 4n4ofinner consciousness, can beTiealed-ef-through the full and proper a^rmSStSspixitual power; and they-^nay^^reee4T^ataiyJtime, toTeniploy that same powelrl^n-tfee-feui^n}of a richer, larger life, for bo3y, mind an


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LIGHT OE INNER CONSCIOUSNESS 69number of human souls who are in touch withinner consciousness, is very large, although manyof them are not aware of the privilege they en^,(joy. However, the veryjmomgflt they give their,attentionjo the spiritual side of life, they find thatthey can be., helped, aJ^TJHpecT wonderfullvr^Vspiritual means. N They were ready to receivehigher power ; and they were ready because theywere living largely in that finer realm throughwhich the spiritual forces live and move and havetheir being.j^GfeaTsouls live constantTy7 Fdfh in^g^of outer consciousness and iruthe workLodLinn^rconscioiisiieil^They are thereforeoF higher spiritual poweFaT ' aITlimes7give ThaFpower expression in any way de sijIt is not necessary, however, to live absolutely inthe world of inner consciousness in order to re-spond to spiritual power; but this is necessary be-fore we can personally possess and employ spir-r itUal power. ^mm^mmmm^mmmm^Even though but a corner of your mind shouldextend, ever so little, into the world of inner con-sciousness, that would mean that the door wasopen. Spiritual power could then come into yourmind and body; and if fully administered, couldact in you with sufficient force to banish everyailment, weakness or wrong that might exist inyour system.


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7o IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITIf you should wish, however, to gain posses-

sion of remarkable spiritual power to be em-ployed in the emancipation of others, and for thefurthering of your own higher development, itwould be necessary to extend your whole mindinto the wonderful world of inner consciousness.In brief, you would find it necessary to enter sofully into that consciousness that you couldactually feel the tremendous forces of the spirit,surging through your entire system, like a mighty,invincible current. And you would always beconscious of the all-powerful Presence.To learn to enter more and more deeply into

the world of inner consciousness, we must con-sider the great law, that the human mind tendsto develop in that direction where we express ourdeepest desires, our strongest thought and ourhighest faith. The way therefore is simple.There are no mysterious methods to employ, orrigid rules to follow. The first step is to knowthat inner consciousness is the consciousness ofthat interior life that permeates all life; and theconsciousness of the spiritual worlda worldthat is to the visible cosmos what the soul is to thevisible form of man.When you enter interior consciousness, you notonly become conscious of your own soul, but youalso become conscious of the soul of the universe.You gain the power to discern the spiritual side


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LIGHT OF INNER CONSCIOUSNESS 71of all things, because your mind has been ex-tended into that vast interior realm where thespiritual elements and the spiritual forces foreverhave their being.The second step is to desire inner consciousness

with a deeper and a stronger desire than you haveever felt before. In truth, this desire should be-come a soul passioncontinuous and invincible;and the power of that desire will draw the mindfarther and farther into the world of interior con-sciousness until you actually live and move in thatworld. Then to the power of this desire wemust add the power of our strongest and mostconcentrated thought. 'Think on these things;and think with such power and feeling that yourwhole mental life enters into the very spirit ofthose thingsinto the very soul of the spiritualworld. Then crown your efforts with faithpure, interior, unbounded faith. Know that yourmind is entering more deeply and more perfectlyinto the illumined world of interior consciousness.Believe this absolutely, and enter into the spiritof that beliefinto the very life of that faiththat has limitless faith in faith.


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CHAPTER XTHE POWER OF SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCEWhen we examine those conditions that are

usually spoken of as evil, and trace them back totheir possible origin, or last analysis, it is impos-sible to find any actual evidence in support of tliebelief that evil is real, or that it has independentexistence. On the contrary, all evidence is onthe other side, and we are impelled to accept theidea that evil is* non-existent. But the questionis, why does evil seem to be real ; and why is ithere affecting the life of man in such a positivemanner ?

Deep thinkers in every age have given thelarger parts of their lives to these questions ; andnaturally various conclusions have been formu-lated. Among the best known of these conclu-sions is the belief that evil is merely a conditionarising from the misuse of the good; but in thefull analysis of this belief a difficulty is met withthat no thinker along that line has as yet over-come. And it is this, that if evil has no real ex-istence, there can be no natural evil in man ; and

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SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCE 73if there be no natural evil in man there can be nodesire or tendency to misuse anything.

But the good is misused as we all know; ther\from whence comes that tendency in man to wantto misuse the good ? Such a tendency cannot begood; and therefore cannot originate in the good.However, if all is good, where are we to find thatfrom which the tendency to misuse can originate?There is a great difficulty here that must be over-come or explained if we are to demonstrate thebelief that evil is merely the misuse of the good.But this difficulty has not thus far been explainedand yet when we examine evil closely we find thatit certainly is non-existent.There is another belief, not so well known, that

will prove itself far more satisfactory to the purereasoner, and that will, not only explain thevarious difficulties that are met with in its analy-sis, but that also presents a method for eliminat-ing evil that is far more perfect than anythingelse ever conceived of by the mind of man. Itwill be interesting therefore to consider this be-lief; although it will be necessary to be brief, thesubject being so large that a volume would be re-quired for a full and complete elucidation.According to this new belief, evil is but a

shadowa shadow that is cast by the life of manhimself when he is in the light, and only whenhe is in the light, it being impossible to cast a


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74 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITshadow when in the dark. In other words, evilexists only as a shadow, it having no reality orpermanency in itself. Thus evil is known ohlyto those who have evolved sufficiently from thelower states of consciousness to have come up intothe light, as it is not possible for those to knowshadows who have never been in the light.

If we are to accept this beliefand there isnothing to disprove it, while all the evidence ob-tainable is in its favorwe must, in one sense,rejoice in the fact that there is evil in the world-^-that our lives do cast a shadow, for this at leastproves that we are in the light. But althoughwe may rejoice in the fact that we are in thelight, still we cannot rejoice in the fact that ourlives do cast a shadow, and that these shadowshave occasioned so much misunderstanding, somuch stumbling and so much pain in the world.We must find, therefore, the reason why the lifeof man does cast a shadow.When we go in search of this reason why, we

soon discover that the life of man casts a shadowbecause the light does not pass through his lifehis life is not transparent. If the light of truthand goodness and perfectionin brief, the divinelight of being, could pass through his life, therewould be no shadow, and man would not knowevil in any form.

This is self-evident. But before we can go


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SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCE 75further in the demonstration of this belief, wemust find the reason why the life of man is nottransparent. This is our greatest problem; andalthough the solution can not be made so clearthat it will be intelligible to everybody, still it is inour possession, and can be proven, by any thinkerof spiritual insight, to be the exact solution. Themany, however, may not concern themselves somuch with the reason why the life of man castsa shadow as they may with the finding of practi-cal methods for the elimination of the shadow.And here this particular belief has a decided ad-vantage over all others ; it does present methodsfor the elimination of the shadow that all can un-derstand and apply.The principle is that if the life of man is tocease to cast a shadow, His spiritual nature mustbecome transparent; his life must attain untospiritual transparence; and the way to spiritualtransparence can be found and followed by anyearnest, awakened soul.When we proceed to examine the problem ofevil more closely, and from the viewpoint of thisbelief, we come to several self-evident conclu-sions. We find that the life of man does cast ashadow; that some lives cast a darker and aheavier shadow than others ; and that this shadownot only causes our minds to believe in darknessand evil, its presence being always with us, but it

'


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SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCE 77human being. True, a number of the rays ofthat light do pass through the nature of many,and there are not a few who are approachingspiritual transparence, or who are on the vergeof such transparence at frequent intervals. Thelives of these are, at certain periods, almost likewindows, through which we discern quite dis-tinctly the majestic glory of the spiritual side ofexistence. That spiritual transparence can beattained, is being attained by a constantly grow-ing number, we know therefore full well ; but be-fore this attainment can be completed by the fewand made possible by the many, we must knowthe original cause of the shadow.

It is evident that the life of man cannot becometransparent so long as he thinks in the shadow;and he will think more or less in the shadow solong as he believes the shadow to be real ^for thetruth is that we shape our thoughts largely afterthose things we believe to be real ; and also, what

we believe to be real we make a part of our ownminds. Thus the shadow has come into the mindof man, due to the fact that he has considered theshadow, believed in it, thought of it as real be-cause it was always with him. ,But we can well understand that no mind canthink clearly so long as there are shadows in thatmind. Under such conditions thinking would beconfused; and it is impossible for the light to


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78 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITpass through a confused mind. Thus the mind,by believing in the shadow, and by making theshadow a part of itself, becomes instrumental inproducing that very condition in the life of manthat casts a shadow, or that prevents the divinelight from passing through. In other words, thewindows of such a mind will not be clear; theywill not transmit the light. And the atmosphereof such a mind will be shadowy and dense, so thatthe mental sky will be overcast, more or less, withdark and heavy clouds. The light therefore can-not pass through, and the life of that man willcast a shadow.From these facts we learn how man, through

his recognition of the shadow, making it more orless a part of his mind, actually perpetuates inhimself those very conditions that caused his lifeto cast a shadow in the first place. But why didhis life cast a shadow in the first place? Simplybecause he did not understand the light when hefirst came up into the light. He came up fromsimple states of consciousness; in fact, from thedarkness, and therefore could not think in thelanguage of light the very moment he came intothe light.Man was not created a finished being. He was...created with certain powers and possibilitiesallof them marvelous and limitless ; but he was leftfree to use his gifts in the making of himself, in


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SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCE 79the unfoldment of what was inherent in his na-ture, in the finishing of that remarkable piece ofwork that the Supreme had, through the laws ofnature, begun in him. We realize therefore thatman could not, at first, be in the spiritual light.He came up gradually into this light, and earnedevery step of the way. But as he came into thelight he naturally would be ignorant of the na-ture of that light, and in consequence would formmany wrong conclusions, which in turn wouldconfuse the mind. And as a confused mind doesnot transmit the light, his life would at the verybeginning cast a shadow. Besides, his mindwould be literally filled with imperfections as hecame up in the scale ; in brief, he was, in a sense,crude in his mental nature when he began toawaken to his birthright, and a crude mental na-ture will not transmit the light, but will insteadcast a shadow.We clearly understand therefore how the lifeof man came to cast a shadow as he began to risefrom darkness into light; and we can naturallyunderstand how this shadow came to attract hisattention; how he came to think of it as real; andhow he came to make it more and more a part ofhis own mentality, thereby confusing the mindand perpetuating those very conditions in him-self which caused his life to cast a shadow in thefirst place. In this way then evil has continued;


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80 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITbut it has continued only as a shadow, and hascaused pain and sorrow in the world in this way,that by attracting the attention of man it hasprevented him from doing all his thinking in thelight. And thinking that is not in the light willnaturally produce conditions that are incompati-ble with living in the light. Wherever we live,all conditions must be in harmony with the spherein which we live. If we live in the dark, all ourconditions will be of the darkness and cannot con-fuse each other. But if we live in the light wecannot permit conditions that come from thedarkness or there will be confusion and disorder,which mean pain, sorrow and tribulation.The problem of evil therefore resolves itself

into this, that since man is now in the light hemust live wholly for the light, giving no thoughtwhatever to darkness or to the shadow that mayfollow his life for a time. He must begin nowto think wholly in the light ; and by doing this hismind will soon become so harmonious and clearthat the divine light will pass through ; in brief,he will become spiritually transparent and his lifewill not cast any shadow any more.

If we are casting a shadow, be it very dark orvery faint, we are obstructing the light to thatextent, and thereby interfering with the best wel-fare of the world. Besides, we are not fulfillingour purpose in life; for we are not here simply to


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SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCE 81see the light ; we must also transmit light ; there-fore, to eliminate the shadow must become one ofour leading aims in life; and to begin, we mustconsider the cause of the shadow first, and thenmeans through which it may be removed.We find that the cause of the shadow is foundin confused thinkingthinking partly in the lightand partly in the dark}'and we find that we thinkin the dark much of the time because we believethe shadow to be real. Therefore, at the veryoutset we must refuse absolutely to think of theshadow as real. We must know that it is noth-ing but a shadow, and that it will disappear tilevery moment wre begin to think wholly in thelight.

In like manner, we must refuse to think of anyevil as real in itself, coming as it does from ndother cause than that of our believing a shadowto be a reality. In other words, we must takeconsciousness above and back of our usual modeof confused thinking, and begin to think only inthe terms of lightknowing that the shadow,with all its train of shadows, are one and all mereshadows, not to be considered or recognized inthe least. Then we must also know that whenwe begin to think wholly in the light, that entiretrain of shadows will disappear as completely asif there never had been such things in the world.

In training the mind to abandon the old way of


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82 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITthinkingthinking both in the darkness and inthe light, and to adopt the new way of thinkingin the light only, we must mentally face that stateof being which will be realized when the condi-tions desired have been attained. In otherwords, if we wish to eliminate the shadows wemust turn all the actions of the mind upon thatstate in which we shall find ourselves when we nolonger cast a shadow. And that state is spiritualtransparence. Our strongest desire thereforemust be to become spiritually transparent; for asthat desire becomes an active part in all the work-ings of the mind, every power in the mind will bedirected upon the ideal of spiritual transparence.Accordingly, the entire mind will begin to trans-form itself into a finer and finer degree of trans-parence; for the law is that the mind invariablytends to become like that ideal to which all itspowers are directed, provided all the actions ofthose powers are inspired with an invincible de-sire to attain unto that ideal.

Thus, by placing spiritual transparence beforeour mental vision as the one supreme state wewish to realize, we cause everything within us toconform more and more with the law of trans-parence. In consequence, these conditions thatobstruct the light will gradually disappear, notbeing produced any more ; the mental atmospherewill be cleared ; and our thinking will become so


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SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCE 83clarified that every part of the mind will transmitall the light that may come upon us from higherrealms. The result will be that more and moreof the divine light will shine through our livesand natures; the shadows therefore will becomeless and less evident until they do not appearagain. Then we shall be surrounded entirely bythe light; we shall live in the full light; all ourthinking will be in the light; and when everythought is born of the light, in the light, therecan be no evil, no sorrow, no wrong any more.Then will begin the emancipated life, the glorifiedlifethe life we shall live when our eyes arestayed on Thee when we live so deeply in thespirit and in the truth that we know only thatwhich is wholly, completely and eternally of thetruth.When we consider the lives of those who havelived largely, who have lived richly, who havelived beautifully, we find that they have invaria-bly transcended the mere demands of the sense3they have taken higher ground; they have goneup into the lofty, the sublime, the empyrian, andhave trained their minds to be in constant touchwith the finer elements of the soul world. Inconsequence, their minds have continually reachedout for those vast worlds that lie beyond the realmof sense ; and in these worlds they have found auniverse, the richness, the beauty and the splen-


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84 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITdor of which no tongue or pen can ever describe.There indeed have they found something to livefor; in truth, they have literally reveled in gor-geous mansions of celestial luxury.They have not, however, lived apart from the

world of things. On the contrary, they havelived more closely to things than before becausethey have learned to see the finer world in allthings. They have learned to hold that secretcommunion with the soul of nature's visible formsthey have entered into that sweet and strangerelationship with the beautiful everywhere whichhas always been the privilege of the great soul,and which has always added so much to the loveli-ness, the joy and the real worth of life.When we have learned to live constantly intouch with that finer world, we have learned agreat secreta secret that will serve us wonder-fully well whatever conditions may be in that ex-ternal world in which we now may live. If weare bountifully supplied with everything in thevisible and the tangible, we shall be able to en-joy these things infinitely more if we can alsosee and appreciate the finer elements of worthand beauty which those things may contain. Intruth, no one can enjoy the things that are seenunless he can also discern the glory and the splen-dor of the unseen.Then if all external sources of supply and en-


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SPIRITUAL TRANSPARENCE 85joyment should fail us, as they sometimes do tem-porarily where all is change and reconstruction,we need not be affected thereby in the least if weare in touch with the greater good in the finerworld. This higher source never fails and wemay draw upon it sufficiently to make life won-derfully rich and beautiful regardless of the ab-sense or presence of external possessions. ' Wemay enjoy the finer things to the full whereverwe may be. And he who enjoys the finer thingsto the full is living a life that is not only greatand wonderful, but is also sublimely beautiful.We must not infer, however, that we needneglect the worthy and the beautiful in the ex-ternal world in order that we may enjoy thegreater riches of the finer world. On the con-trary, we find that if we would live largely in theworld of finer things, if is a great advantage togive our attention to the perfecting and the beau-^tifying of external things. Our great aim mustbe, the best, the richest and the most beautifulfor everybody on all planes. But the finer thingsmust hold the first place in all that we think anddo, because the world of finer things is the rich-est world and the most beautiful world of all ; be-sides, it is only as we live for the finer thingsthat we gain the power to enjoy the good and thebeautiful that may exist in all other things. Andto rise perpetually into the purity, the light and


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86 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITthe glory of the finer worldthis is how we attainto spiritual transparence; this is how we so re-fine and clarify the mind that the Great Light mayshine through; and our own thinking and livingwill cast no shadow any more.


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CHAPTER XIUPON THE PATH WHERE ALL IS GOOD

At the present time the statement that all isgood is heard frequently, and as it seems to be acontradiction of human experience, it has nat-urally led to many arguments and much re-search into metaphysics, as well as the funda-mental cause of things. There is, however, alarge number that is convinced that in some formor manner all is in reality good ; but the majoritystill cling to the idea that much is evil and wrong.When we consider the subject from the stand-point of what we may call eternal reality, defin-ing the term reality as consisting of that some-thing from which everything proceeds, it is notdifficult to prove that all is good in its originalstate ; in other words, that all that is real is good,just as we might say that all substance is good,and that all law is good. We know that no lawhas evil intentions, fundamentally, and we real-ize that every law has possibilities for good, inone or many directions, although the results fromthe use of any law will depend upon whether theoriginal purpose of the law was applied, or

&7


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WHERE ALL IS GOOD 89side of a certain system of life or thought, still itdoes restrict us from the enjoyment of thosethings that are not conducive to the great pur-pose we all have in view.Here we must remember that the enjoyment of

life is a part of the great purpose of life; andtherefore the great pathway must necessarilyprovide, not only for enjoyment, but for the high-est form of enjoyment, and at every step of theway. When we learn this, we find that the prin-cipal reason why we have not had more happinessin the past is because we have been drilled so longto believe that the moment we were becominghappy we were on the wrong path. We were ofthe opinion that happiness and pleasure lead todestruction; but the new doctrine declares thatyou cannot be good unless you are living in thehighest form of happiness that you can appre-ciate at the time. The contrary of the old doc-trine declares that if you are not happy you arenot good ; that is, if you are not thoroughly enjoy-ing life you are not living upon the great pathwayof life.Knowing this, we realize that if we are un-

happy there is something about our living that iscontrary to the great law of the ever ascendinglife; or we may be practically off the path, sothat the remedy would be to seek the great pathonce more; and we shall find, after we have en-


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go IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITtered into the realization of this new idea, thatit will be much easier to gain that fullness ofhappiness and joy that we all desire so much.We may begin our analysis of this subject,therefore, by making the statement that we arehere to learn a great lesson, a lesson that is solarge and so wonderful that the objective mindcannot possibly comprehend it under any circum-stances; but as we develop the higher form ofunderstanding, we realize more and more thefullness of its meaning, and we also realize thatthis lesson can be learned or worked out only aswe follow the great path.To proceed further therefore in our study, we

must understand the meaning of the great path;and we find that it is not some restricted mode ofliving, but a mode of living that we enter intowhen our whole attention is directed upon thegreat light of Supreme Wisdom. In other words,we are on the path when the whole of life hasbeen consecrated to the best, to the highest, tothe truest, to the richest and to the ideal, includ-ing the best that can be found everywhere on allplanes of life. Briefly stated, we are on the pathwhen we are inspired with that great and won-derful purpose.But do we always follow this path? We find

that we step outside frequently. We turn to theright and to the left almost every day, and in fact,


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WHERE ALL IS GOOD 91almost every hour; and when we do step outsidewe experience pain, adversity, sickness, want andall those conditions that we have spoken of asevil.Now the question is, if those things really areevil. We have thought of them as such, but wemust analyze further before we find the real truthupon this important subject. We all know,through experience, that whenever we step out-side the path we have pain, and we also know thatthis pain reminds us of the fact that we are offthe path. Is this pain therefore an evil ? It can-not possibly be an evil if it reminds us of ourduty to our highest light. On the contrary, it isa good friend, and the moment we take the ad-vice of this good friend and return to the path,there will be no more pain.From this brief analysis we must conclude that

pain is good; that is, it acts as a friend underevery circumstance to encourage us to return tothe path. We shall find that the same is true ofall these other conditions that we call evil; theyare reminders, some existing on the left side ofthe path, others on the right side of the path; andwhenever we step outside, then these remindersinform us that we are off the path. Therefore,we must think of them as good, for indeed theyare very good. If it were not for those remind-ers we would possibly remain outside of the path


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92 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITfor ages, and thus be deprived, for all that time,of the wonderful realizations that are in store forus as we advance in the scale of eternal ascension.The truth is that all of these reminders, or so-called evils, are good; and we shall need them justso long as we continue to step outside the path.They are necessities for the time being; but thevery moment we decide that we will never stepoutside of the path again, we shall never knowthose reminders any more; we meet them onlywhen we step aside, and they are there to tell usto return; therefore they are good.We all have had periods of experience provingthe fact that when we continued on the path forsome length of time we realized that we were not,during that time, in touch with adversity, sick-ness or pain on any side. We knew nothingabout those things in our own experience. Thereason was we were on the path; and those con-ditions do not exist on the path. But when some-thing happened that caused us to step outside thepath once more, we met pain, adversity and otherreminders, informing us instantly that we hadstepped aside from the true way of existence.The question then will naturally be why we

step off the path; and the answer is, that we arelearning our lesson ; and a mind that is learning isnot complete in its knowledge. Such a mind mayform misconceptions now and then, and may se-


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94 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITplish. So therefore, the fact that these so-calledevils, or good friends, are painful in their effectis also a positive good. It is quite necessary thattheir effect should be such, otherwise we wouldnot accept their advice and return to the greatwork we have in store.

In this connection it is most important toconsider the fact that if we would always lookupon those conditions as good friends, instead ofthinking about them as evils, thereby filling ourminds with a mass of useless impressionsif wechanged our attitude in this matter, we would findthat several things would happen. In the firstplace, we would find that all the energy that wehad been sending out to annihilate those goodfriends to no purpose whatever, could be used tobuild up soul, mind, character and life on thegreat path. We all have experimented along thisline, living for wTeeks and months in an attitudewhere we did not antagonize anything or anybodyin any form whatever; and we discovered that,during such a period, we had more energy andlife than ever before, and we accomplished farmore than in the past ; besides, our work was bet-ter, and we enjoyed life to a far greater degree;in fact, we had more life to enjoy, because wewere not wasting life trying to remove evil, ortrying to remove those conditions that are abso-lutely necessary where they are, acting as eternal


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WHERE ALL IS GOOD 95reminders to the human race in order that no in-dividual may remain on the outside of the pathfor any length of time.We know the value of the great law, Resistnot evil; and if we would never resist these so-called evils, never turn energy out to the right, orto the left, where it cannot be used for any pur-pose whatever, but on the contrary, use all ourtime, energy and attention in building for agreater life and in learning the great lesson, wewould find the greatest difference in the world;we would find that where we took one step for-ward under the old mode of living, we would beable to take ten or twenty under the new mode.We all know the effect of periods of grief andworry, how those conditions use up life and en-ergy to no purpose ; and the cause is simply this,that we are turning our energies out against con-ditions that cannot be removed, and therefore, allsuch energy is wasted. Instead of trying to re-move evil, we should let it alone, and return to thegreat path. Evils do not exist upon the path ; butthey do exist outside the path ; and it is absolutelynecessary that they do exist there. No one, how-ever, need turn to the left or to the right ; there-fore, no one need meet evil if living be always onthe path. We shall meet them, however, just aslong as we make it a practice to turn to the leftor to the right at frequent intervals.


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96 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITAccepting this idea, we will proceed to turn our

energy where it can be used for some purpose;that is, in building for the great life that lies be-fore us. And when we realize that every pain oradversity may have some good advice, some in-formation that we need, we will, if we seek suchinformation, gain decidedly; we will learn some-thing of importance whenever we meet one ofthese good friends; and instead of antagonizingthe so-called evil, we would ask what it all means,and what good advice this friend has to give usat this particular time.Whenever we meet any condition that is not

pleasing, we may know there is something for usto learn. We know that we have stepped outsidethe path, and we must investigate, so as to ascer-tain the reason why. We should meet these goodfriends, therefore, as monitors on the way, forthat is what they really are; and if we look for in-formation whenever we meet evil, instead of re-sisting and deploring our experience, we shallfind what we are looking for and learn much.Under those circumstances we should be scien-

tists, and proceed to investigate instead of beinganxious or permitting grief and worry. Weshould look for the facts in the case, the lesson tobe learned, for the law to be discovered; and inevery instance, these so-called evils will prove tobe instructors, giving us valued and timely infor-mation along many lines.


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WHERE ALL IS GOOD 105our whole time and attention henceforth to a bet-ter understanding of how we may so live that weshall always continue on the path; but as we pro-ceed we must not come to the conclusion that thispath is so narrow that we are necessarily re-stricted from the majority of those things thatwe meet in life upon this planet. The fact is,that we can enjoy everything in life as we proceedupon the path, provided we are true to the pur-pose of life ; that is, provided our one purpose is,through all life and through all enjoyment, toreach out for the higher, the better, the truer, thericher, the more wonderful, the ideal, the sub-lime.We are entitled to all the pleasures of physical,mental and spiritual existence; and we can enjoythem all and remain upon the path ; but the spiritof all such enjoyment and all modes of life mustinvariably be upward and onward. And whenlife is inspired through and through with a de-sire for the highest and the best on all planes,we shall find that every atom in our being willwork steadily and surely for the true, the per-fect, the wholesome, the beautiful and the ideal.The result will be that the upward current of lifewill become so strong that we will invariablybe drawn upward and onward by an irresistibleforce; and thus the inclination to turn to the leftor to the right will disappear completely.


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106 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITWhen the desire of life for the higher becomes

so strong that the whole of life is inspired bythat desire, there will no longer be any desire inmind or body to step outside of the path. Theone desire will be to live on the path; and thatdesire will be supreme. It is possible therefore,through the development of that powerful spir-itual desire, to place the human system in a po-sition where it will be protected from temptationson all sides; and then, regardless of what maycome or transpire, we shall always continue onthe pathalways ascending towards the greaterlife, the greater glory, the greater light, thegreater joy.


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THE I AM IS THE WAY 109in sacred literature; that is, Be still and knowthat I Am God/' or paraphrased might read, Bestill and know that the eternal I Am is God ;and indeed the eternal I Am is the Way, theTruth and the Life. We know that it is the eter-nal I Am that is in reality God, the term I Am,being but another term for the Divine, the Su-preme, the Most High; and therefore we canreadily appreciate the great statement, I Am theWay, the Truth and the Life.When we consider this statement through ourhighest spiritual understanding, we realize thatwe must enter through the consciousness of theI Am if we would find the way, or enter uponthat perfect path that leads to the lofty places ofthe soul. The same is true if we would find thetruth; that is, the absolute truth, the truth thatmakes man free; the truth that is in reality truth.We must seek this truth through the conscious-ness of the I Am, and it is only in that conscious-ness that divine truth in its fullness and perfec-tion can be realized. In like manner, if we wishto enter into the life eternal, and gain possessionof the life more abundant, or partake of thathigher state of being which has neither begin-ning nor end, which is immortal, glorified andspiritualizedif we wish to enter into that lifewe must seek it through the consciousness of theI Am ; and when we are in that consciousness we


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no IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITenter into that perfect stillness of the soul wherewe may indeed know God.

In the past, the majority who believe in themission of Jesus Christ tried to find the way thetruth and the life in some mysterious mannerthrough the personality of Jesus; but when weexamine everything that was said upon that loftytheme, we find that the personal Jesus never madeany such claim. The personal man Jesus did notclaim to be the Way. It was when the eternalI Am in him was speaking that this lofty state-ment was made; and when the I Am was speak-ing through him he spoke as one having author-ity, which indeed he did have at the time. Itwas the great spiritual Light finding expressionthrough his highly refined and developed person-ality; and we know that all expressions comingfrom the Great Spiritual Light are expressionsemanating directly from the consciousness of theMost High.We must remember that the I Am, which in-deed is the Way, the Truth and the Life, does not

dwell exclusively in any one personality. The IAm may find expression through any personality,and indeed does dwell in the soul of every humanbeing. The eternal I Am is enthroned in thespiritual life of every individual soul ; and whenwe enter into the perfect stillness of the soulthe peace that passeth understandingthat peace


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THE I AM IS THE WAY inthat does pass understanding because in thatstate there is no understanding large enough orwonderful enough to measure the peace we real-izeit is in that state of peace which is abovereason, which is above ordinary mental activity,which is even above what we usually call think-ing, where we may know or discern the presenceof the I Am.When we are in that peace we are in absoluteLight, and we do not really think about anything,

for the truth is that when we are in the Light weknow. It is not necessary to think there in theusual sense of that term, because we know; andhere let us remember that there is a marked dis-tinction between thinking and knowing, and be-tween understanding and realization. The proc-ess of thinking is a process through which wecreate thoughts about something that we are try-ing to understand; but when we know, then wedo not have to try to understand or create tem-porary thoughts about what we are seeking toknow. When we know, then the mind is in astate of illumination, and dwells serenely in theperfect realization of the Great Spiritual Light.We understand therefore that when we are inthe peace that passeth understanding, we areabove actual mental activities; we are in a statewhere all these things are felt and realized asabsolute states of being; and it is in that realiza-


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j 12 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITtion that we become conscious of the presenceand the power of the Eternal I Am.

If we should try to define the I Am to objectiveintellect, we might liken the I Am to a greatWhite Light enthroned in the soul, and givingexpression to its wisdom and power throughthose higher states of consciousness into whichwe enter when we are in the glory and light ofthe soul world. We realize therefore that whenwe ascend in our consciousness, higher andhigher into our own spiritual being, we drawnearer and nearer to the Great White Light thatexists upon the spiritual heights of that realm in[which the soul forever dwells serene.When we enter into this lofty state, we meeta wonderful experience; and it is this, that as

we become conscious of the life and the presenceof the Great White Light, we enter in a measureinto that Light, and we feel that we are so per-fectly in that Light that we partake of the con-sciousness of the Eternal I Am. In brief, wefeel as if we have become one with the I Am, andcan actually make the same great statement, IAm the Way, the Truth and the Life. In ameasure this is true, because we all are one withthe I Am in spirit; and when we become con-scious of that sublime unity, we partake of thesame wisdom and the same power, and also be-come channels, so to speak, through which the


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THE I AM IS THE WAY 113Most High may speak the Word of EternalTruth.The statement that My Father and I are one/'

illustrates this same experience, because everyhuman entity, spiritually speaking, is one withthe Supreme; and when this oneness becomes areality in consciousness, the Infinite does speakthrough us, or we give expression to what is inreality the Word of God.The eternal I Am is individualized in every

soul, and therefore we can say that the I Am inourselves, that is, the Great White Light of thesoul, does constitute the Gates Ajar, in our ownspiritual being, to the Way, the Truth and theLife. What is more, we find that it is the con-sciousness of the I Am in our own spiritual ex-istence that constitutes the only secret path tothat lofty state wherein we find the Way, theTruth and the Life. We cannot find the Way,the Truth and the Life through any externalsourcenot even through the personality ofJesus, or through the personality of any extraor-dinary soul that might have appeared, or thatmay appear upon earth. The secret path to theWay is found only in our own interior conscious-ness of the I Am individualized in us, or our ownspiritual consciousness of the Great White Lightenthroned in the secret realms of our own soul.

If we would find the Way, we must become


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u6 IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITturn away from the one central pa

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