MAN: THE TRIUNE GOD

By Geoffrey Hodson

The writings of Mr. Geoffrey Hodson have been received with keen and growing interest by special groups of students for some years in Britain and recently in America.

The present volume is offered to a wider public by a press whose ideal is the helping of humanity through knowledge and beauty. That ideal is incarnate in the guiding spirit of the press, Professor Nicholas Roerich, intrepid tracker of the footprints of knowledge not only in its horizontal extension from the pueblos of America to the high plateaux of Asia, but in its vertical ascent in the as yet only meagrely explored upper regions of the human spirit; creator of the noblest expression of beauty and vision in painting in our time.

Mr. Hodson's book comes from the Roerich Museum Press as a contribution to knowledge through the perpendicular exploration spoken of above. This special kind of knowledge is not the accumulation of details concerning the phenomenal universe. It is a subjective erudition, free, in this book, of references, since it is one continuous quotation. It answers with a negative the question: "Can man by searching find out. . . . ?” and obeys the command: "Stand still and see. . . ." Its findings are beyond physical test as yet. Its expression is not from the rostrum, but from the neighborhood of the oracle, perhaps even of a certain bush that burned yet was not consumed ­ because its flame was not that of physical destruction or purgation but of superphysical illumination. In olden times the recipient of such knowledge betook himself to waste places crying: "Thus saith the Lord!" Mr. Hodson sits down in his study and quietly writes: "An angel told me."

There is in this a certain bravery towards which one bows acknowledgment without renunciation of personal judgment. There is something fine in the spectacle of a young man of solid English lineage, sensibly countenanced, well set up in body, keen on science, a helper of humanity, with not the slightest suggestion of wizardry about him, taking his seat without apology in the company of Blake and Swedenborg and the rest of the seers; sponsoring statements of colossal import as if they were everyday familiarities; and doing so at a time when intellectual authority is all for knowledge by research, discovery or speculation, and not at all by "revelation."

Yet it is apparently as difficult for humanity to exclude revelation from its inner experience as it was for the novelist Sir J. M. Barrie to keep his mother out of his books. That worthy lady, apart from her objective identity, had become a permanent presence in the creative imagination of her son; and in some analogous manner the creative imagination of humanity is occasionally touched by "presences" from beyond the borders of its normal life. Judgment may be suspended on the question of their identity, yet of their existence there is a growing assurance. Professor T. H. Huxley, the "agnostic," declared that he could conceive of orders of beings as high above humanity as humanity is above the beetle. Certain scientists today, like Lodge in England, declare their conviction, based on scientific investigation, that differentiated centers of consciousness function outside the limitations of human consciousness, yet interact with it; while others, like Millikan in America, have become aware of forces operating on the earth from distances so vast as to make the long asserted influences of the solar system on human beings feel almost elementary.

The chief reactions away from this book will probably come from those who profess "faith" or "doubt" with equal earnestness. Credulity (which is the common connotation of the rudimentary forms of religious faith) has a knack of becoming extraordinarily incredulous of matters beyond its own circle of interest and terminology. On the other hand, there is a tendency in doubt of any kind to become even more certain and intolerant than faith; to start off inquisitively and end inquisitorially. The professors of organized faith are quite sure of the things they have faith in. They are not so certain, however, as to what faith really is. Paul the Apostle defined it as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This is commonly regarded as a passive, unquestioning acceptance of a particular authority. Instead, it is a positive statement of the psychological truth that faith is a certitude arising out of a personal realization that the hopes of humanity are reflections of future achievement inherent in the nature of things; that, as a function of the human consciousness, it is the executive aspect of an inner reality. The definition accepts the observed double operation of consciousness; in one aspect experiencing, in the other assimilating. The "Manduka Upanishad" of India put the same thing thus at least as long ago as the Apostle: "Two inseparable companions, of fine plumage, perch on the selfsame tree. One feeds on the fruit of the tree: the other looks on."

This dual process is, be it observed, a process of active consciousness; the antithesis of the renunciation of normal consciousness practised in some phases of ordinary mediumship. The latter has been for years a matter not merely of scientific interest but of use in therapeutic hypnosis and induced somnambulic trance through which the normally hidden content of consciousness reveals itself, and frequently reveals knowledge which the normal consciousness does not possess. The introducing of the outer consciousness to its inn "inseparable companion" has been the work of analytical psychology for a generation, with its graph, unfortunately too frequently on a descending curve. But a movement upwards from the subconscious to the super-conscious is indicated in the recent publication in Germany of an ancient Chinese manual of meditation with the approbation of Professor Jung. Before long, science will follow the ascending graph of psychological enquiry, and give its attention, not less to psycho-pathology and the suppression or supersession of normal consciousness for the helping of sufferers, but more to the phenomena of the heightening and intensifying of normal consciousness, and its apparent expansion into affiliations with degrees and centers of consciousness beyond its particular horizon. Such enquiry will throw light not only on the questions raised by and in this book, but back­wards through human history over the whole matter of "inspiration" and "revelation."

Those who watch scientific tendencies will there­fore probably accept Mr. Hodson's "revelations" in the new scientific spirit. Professor William James, in "A Pluralistic Universe," a generation ago rebuked one school of thought for leaving out everything intermediary between the item and the total in the universe. The trend now is towards inclusiveness, and the contents of this book are likely to be regarded as a psychological phenomenon to be considered. In a discussion after a lecture by the present writer on supernormal experience many years ago in an Irish seaport, a Scottish sailor asked for some instance that might be accepted as evidential. An instance was stated, with the query: "What would you say about that yourself?" The canny Scot replied "I'd say that it wad gie me something tae think aboot." Those who know Mr. Hodson know that this is just his hope in regard to his writings.

James H. Cousins.

This book is the fourth of a series [The three preceding books are: "The Brotherhood of Angels and of Men," "Be Ye Perfect," and "The Angelic Hosts." ] of volumes containing teachings given to the author by a member of the angelic hosts. In this work the angel teacher seeks to portray the splendour of the human path of evolution. He describes the transcendent powers of the God in man, dwells upon the glories of those realms of consciousness in which the divine in man has its spiritual home. He speaks directly to the man of the world, telling of the splendour which is his heritage and how he may overcome the limitations of life on earth and enter into that freedom which is his spiritual birthright.

For those readers to whom the conception of such angelic ministration is unfamiliar, the author would explain that by an angel he means a member of a stream of life and consciousness evolving side by side with man on this planet and in this Solar System. Angels differ from man, first in that they do not incarnate in physical bodies; they are superphysical and therefore normally invisible beings; and, second, in that they are associated more especially with the life and force side of creation, whilst man evolves through the material and form aspect. As in essence life and form are one, so also in their essential nature are angels and men.

Modern science has discovered the force behind and within the matter and the form of the universe; leading scientists are venturing to postulate the existence of a consciousness or intelligence which directs that force. But one step further in thought is required to include the conception and place of the angels in the economy of the solar system; for they are the individual intelligences associated with every natural energy, the "engineers" of the Logos, directors of the forces which constitute His universe.

The angelic hosts are countless in their numbers and various in their orders and degrees. Certain orders are definitely associated with man, and it is a member of one such order who some years ago began to teach the author certain spiritual truths and to ex­plain the place and function of his brethren in Nature.

This fourth book of angelic teaching may be regarded as a continuation of the second, which is called: "Be Ye Perfect." In that book some of the laws and principles governing the attainment of human perfection are set forth, the new born child being taken as the starting point from which man's pilgrimage through physical life to ultimate perfection was considered.

In this volume the starting point is the spiritual nature of man, and the study of his evolution is approached from its most transcendent aspect. The angel's purpose is to lift the reader into the highest and most spiritual conception of the human soul and to assist him towards a realization of his own divine power and splendour.

Incarnation in the flesh inevitably accentuates the purely human and earthly attributes of humanity. The stress of physical life is so great that we are prone to forget and even to deny our inherent divinity. We have come to regard the gravest vices with tolerance on the plea that they are natural human weaknesses. It is of value, therefore, that our attention should be directed to our equally natural divine strength. This service the angel teacher has endeavored to perform through the medium of this book.

The profound ideas contained in the earlier chapters are far from easy of comprehension; to be under­stood and applied they must be translated into individual experience. The author suggests that this result cannot be attained by the ordinary process of reading. It would seem necessary to dwell in deep thought upon the angel's teachings in order that their full significance may be grasped.

The reader is directed to the introduction of the three other books in this series for a full explanation of the method by which the angel's teaching is given and received. In this preface the author repeats that the teaching is not received in trance; that on the contrary his consciousness becomes supernormally lucid and alert. The angel conveys not words but ideas, and yet something more; he awakens in the author the power to see and to know for himself, conveys to him the vision of that which is taught in such a manner that the knowledge of it arises within the author's consciousness as if it were his own discovery.

In such measure as his mental and literary limitations permit, the author seeks to pass this teaching on, hoping that it may awaken in others the vision of the spiritual splendour of man, which he himself has begun, however dimly, to perceive.

CONTENTS

THE EVERLASTING LIGHT

THE HEART OF BEING

COSMIC MAN

EARTHLY MAN

OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE

THE DISCOVERY OF SELF .

RULER, SCIENTIST AND PRIEST

SPIRITUAL ARISTOCRACY

THE BRIDGE

THE WAY OF RELEASE

MAN THE SAVIOUR OF MANKIND

BETWEEN the eternal darkness of the unmanifest and the transient light of the manifest, there is a state of perfect equipoise, a land of everlasting light. The mighty pendulum of life, through which primordial rhythm is made manifest, swings back and forth between the states of being and non-being. As on its outward path from non-being, it passes through the midmost point, a cosmos springs into existence. The pendulum swings on, and within the cosmos universes are born. Still farther on it swings, and solar systems form, are peopled, and evolve.

The highest point of swing is the deepest point of being. The pendulum hangs poised and the densest of all material worlds appear. Then follows the re­turn. The rule of spirit is established and maintained, until once more the midmost point is passed and planets, systems, universes, cosmoi disappear, passing through the realms of everlasting light into the realm of non-being, there to be merged in That which is beyond.

Throughout the realms of cosmic space, of manifested universes, of systems with their suns, there is but one land, where may be found eternal peace, immovable equipoise, and light that is never dimmed. It is the midmost point of the pendulum's eternal swing, the highest point of manifested being; the gateway leading from and back into eternal night. There dwell the Rulers of the Cosmic fields of space, Whose Sons are Universal Lords, in Their turn, the Parents of the solar Gods, Rulers of the wheeling systems of which the realm of being is composed. From These again proceed a splendid progeny of beings, hierarchy after hierarchy, sent forth from Them deeper into the realms of being, each to be borne on the mighty swinging pendulum into the depths of manifested life. Having reached the deepest point, these countless millions take up their homeward way borne on the pendulum's returning swing.

Before the midmost point once more is approached, where being passes into non-being and the systems which have been their home shall disappear, these children of the Solar Gods are destined to unfold their Godlike powers until they display in full the glory of their celestial parentage. Then the resplendent multitude will be absorbed once more into His being, Who brought them forth.

The pendulum swings on towards the midmost point. Each in His turn, the Solar Gods bear all Their harvests home, and are received into the being of the universal Rulers Who sent Them forth. Finally, the cosmic Lords, dwelling in the land of everlasting light, receive back into Themselves the products of this aeonic travelling out into the realms of being. The midmost point of swing at last is reached, and at that point of perfect equipoise there is the illusion of a pause, so long, in terms of being, that eternity after eternity seems to be swallowed up therein; until at last the pendulum swings on and all manifested life sinks back into the Absolute.

Behind the unbroken rhythm of the swinging pendulum is That from which its movement is derived. Penultimate motion causes the pendulum to swing; movement causes change; from change the pairs of opposites arise. The primary pair are being and non­being; through these the pendulum swings eternally. The many pairs of opposites are born of these primordial progenitors, the manifest and the unmanifest.

Of the unmanifest only They can speak who live in that aeonic pause, the Cosmic Lords Who stand upon the threshold of being and non-being and maintain Their foothold in the land of everlasting light. In terms of the unmanifest, the period of Their enthronement in that land is limited, for by the very law of its existence the swinging pendulum will bear Them onward into the realm of non-being. In terms of manifested life They seem to know no change, nor is there naught which can shake the firm foundations on which Their thrones are built. They rest in the land of first and last existence. They and They alone are the alpha and omega of Life.

As the eternal pendulum swings forth from the night of non-being to the day of being, the everlasting light appears; next, They themselves shine forth. On its return They are the very last to release Their hold upon the realm of being. In terms of being, They appear as everlasting, dwelling in that duration which is beyond all measurable time.

Such are the cosmic Rulers, the god-like Progenitors of countless universes: Parents of myriads of suns and planets, of countless hosts of beings dwelling thereupon. So remote are They, that They seem to dwell in a land beyond and yet within the vast infinitudes of space. Cosmic fields of evolution are Their footstools. Universes are the steps leading to Their abode. Solar systems are the stones of which the stairways are composed; planets the atoms of which the stones are built. Their powers flow forth and return continually, penetrating deeper and deeper into being as the eternal pendulum swings on.

AMID the wide diversity of suns, of systems, universes, and cosmoi, there is one central source of life and power and consciousness. It is the cosmic sun from which all other suns emerge. From this living heart flows forth the power which brings them into being and maintains their life.

As the swinging pendulum crosses the threshold dividing being from non-being, this heart appears. It is the first super-cosmic atom, the heart of every atom throughout all manifested worlds. Cosmoi first embody it as the heart of every cosmic sun; from these it manifests itself in universal suns. Still deeper it plunges into the realms of being, to become the heart of every planet, the source of life and power to every sun.

Although this central heart is manifest in every atom in every world, it is yet one and indivisible. It is the cosmic heart through which life passes continually between being and non-being. It is the ultimate world of being, the land of everlasting light made manifest. That land is both heart and womb of manifested life. All beings are conceived within it, all life passes through it; it is the mother of all worlds. It is the place of first emergence, where the unmanifest is united with the manifest, the absolute with the self-conditioned. These three states of being, non-being, and the state between, are represented equally throughout all worlds, in cosmoi, universes, systems, planets, and their suns. The manifest and the unmanifest dwell united in every form. The ever­lasting light from the threshold shines in every form, however great, however small. Within all nature these three may be discovered, being, non-being, and the state between.

From this triune heart in every form a pathway leads to the land of everlasting light, the place of equipoise; and thence onwards through the ever-open doorway into the unmanifest. This road is thronged with countless myriads of beings; it exists within them; they walk within themselves, scaling the heights of their own nature, plunging into the depths of their own being, ever drawing nearer and nearer to the gateway of return. These travellers are sent forth to people the mighty realms of being, to win therefrom strength and vision and to find that road within them­selves, on which alone they may return and take up their abode within the land of everlasting light.

Unshakable stability is there, immovable equipoise, peace that can never be disturbed. The cosmic waves of power and of life which flow resistlessly over the vast sea of space and beat eternally upon the shores of being do not avail to break the calm of the dwellers in that land. To them the cosmic breakers' thunderous roar is but the harmonious music of the manifested worlds. He who has found and trod the homeward road, also stands unshakable and unmoved, amid their mighty power. He has entered the heart of being and found eternal peace.

In the immeasurable vastness of the worlds of being, where suns are but as atoms, a single life of angel or of man may well seem valueless, without significance. Yet, despite his seeming littleness, man contains within himself the power both of the manifest and absolute, whilst he himself stands poised immovable between. Throughout the duration of his manifested life, man brings forth and ultimately rules the cosmos which is his manifested self. One in his essence, a unit in himself, he manifests through a succession of existences, puts forth portions of himself into many fields, dwells in many universes, and takes his place on many stars.

Looking outward from the centre of his cosmic life, he sees himself immersed in every form. He also sees the whole. He knows and sees himself as sun, as planet, and as man evolving on a globe. He sees the human efforts of his planetary self, the sorrows and the joys. He sees the many lives, strung like precious stones upon the golden thread of life which makes them one. A thousand jewels glisten on that thread of life, each flashing with the hue by which the harvest of the life it represents is symbolized. When the toll of lives in one system is complete, he withdraws therefrom and passes to the next, for, to the cosmic man, lives, planets, systems, and universes are but the many diverse parts of the vast cosmic whole, which is himself.

He is the stable centre of them all; the major sun round which they all revolve; the boundless source from which their life and power is drawn; the single consciousness pervading all the many forms. In whatsoever form he finds himself, on star, on planet, or on sun, he remains the cosmic man, holding at his command the powers and capacities of both the manifest and the Absolute.

As, successively, he manifests himself in cosmos and in universe, in solar and planetary fields, a measure of his cosmic power is sacrificed at each descent. Yet the power of the cosmic man himself knows no bounds, despite its everlasting flow into and through his myriad reflections in the worlds below.

Between the spiritual ruler throned on high and his material expression on the worlds below, exists a line of life and light and power, a triple beam which links them through all time. Along that living beam the powers of the immortal flow down into the mortal man. Millions of such beams of living light pass from the cosmic Ruler and Progenitor through cosmic men into the myriad forms below. He, the cosmic Overlord, holds in His hands these living beams, and from age to age He weaves them into the pattern which portrays His labours in the cosmic fields, His contribution to the mighty scheme of being.

As thus He weaves, He meditates upon the mystery of being and non-being, upon the change from Absolute to manifest, the causeless cause to the conditioned. His meditations release vast energies, divine potencies which flow along the beams of light, causing them to flash and coruscate; in the fields of space below, form after form is perfected, whilst the life within receives illumination, experiences a quickening of all its powers.

The Cosmic Ruler meditates and weaves through­out aeonic ages and thus the splendid pattern grows. One day His cosmic tapestry will be complete. Borne onwards by the swinging pendulum, He will pass into the Absolute. Then cosmic man will take His place as Cosmic Overlord and in his turn bring forth myriads of beings, each linked to him by lines of living light, he too will weave upon the warp and weft of time and space his perfect tapestry of manifested life; his work complete he, too, will pass onwards through the land of everlasting light into non-being.

MAN, passing through a single incarnation in the flesh, knows little of the power and splendour of his cosmic self. Many lives on many globes must pass ere the pendulum has reached its farthest point and, borne on its returning swing, he awakens to the knowledge of his spiritual potency. As member of a savage tribe he dwells under the domination of desire. His bodily demands and their satisfaction absorb his consciousness exclusively. As member of a cultured race he enters on the pathway of return and first becomes aware of realms within himself beyond desire, beyond the mind. Conscience and pure love present themselves as twin ambassadors from some new land beyond the borders of desire. Millennia pass and the light of his spiritual selfhood begins to penetrate the veils of mind and feeling to illuminate the earthly man. Gradually he frees himself from theories, from doctrines and beliefs. Truth, perceived direct, becomes his goal. Truth's dwelling place within himself becomes the Mecca of a spiritual pilgrimage.

Perceiving this change, the cosmic self on high sends down into the earthly man a fuller measure of his mighty power; the beam which links them shines with a greater splendour, hangs like a many-colored lightning-flash twixt earth and heaven. The pendulum swings on and, spiritually illumined, earthly man grows strong and wise. The powers of the world be­low which hitherto had mastery over him, now pay homage to his new-found power. First comes Destiny, a lordly angel, with towering figure reaching to the sky, bearing in his hand a scroll. Making profound obeisance, he delivers the scroll of life into the hands which henceforth may write upon it as they will. Earthly man, illumined and empowered by his cosmic self has become the ruler of his fate, master of his destiny.

Then follow others, also conquered by the power of inner light. Desire stalks forth from the under­growth of passion wherein it hitherto has dwelt. The gaunt and lurid figure, marked with many scars bows at its conqueror's feet. He stretches forth his hand, and lo! the demon is transformed into a Knight, young, fresh and beautiful. Desire has been transmuted into will.

Fear comes next, a grey and grinning specter, crawling on its knees. Its baleful eyes are covered by their downcast lids; its head is bowed upon the ground. This, too, the conqueror touches as it bows, and behold! a fearless warrior stands forth. Fear is overcome; immortal courage takes its place.

Then follows one who is the embodiment of hate and jealousy, self-seeking and deceit; this, too, is transfigured into a splendid goddess, beautiful as Venus' self. Hate, with its ugly progeny, is transmuted into sympathy, jealousy to trust, deceit to honour and self-seeking into selfless love.

Thus, ruler of his fate, conqueror of desire and fear, inspired by a pure and selfless love, man turns away from earth, his battleground, towards the realm wherein his cosmic self is manifest, the heaven in which he shall receive the victor's crown of immortality. Though he must yet remain on earth, he dwells a god among men by virtue of the unfolding powers of mind, of intuition and of will.

These godlike gifts made manifest greatly increase the range of waking consciousness. The limits of earthly time and space cease to bind and imprison as they have done through all preceding lives. Full memory of those early lives is won, restoring to the earthly man such power and knowledge as he gained in ancient days. Studying the past, he achieves stability amidst the ever-changing scenes in which he lived his many lives. He becomes the centre from which the power of each successive life was drawn, the thread on which each life was strung, as pearls upon a silken strand.

The ultimate stability of cosmic man seated throughout eternity within the highest realms of being, descends upon the earthly man as rock-like strength and equipoise.

Knowledge of worlds invisible is gradually acquired. His body becomes to him a garment which he lays aside at will. His consciousness roams free by night or day. The whole earth is his dwelling place. Heaven with its many worlds lies open to his illumined gaze. The hearts and minds of men lie open, too. With piercing glance he sees infallibly their motives and designs, their hopes and fears, sees also the powers of the divinity within.

By the magic of his own achievement, by the power of his awakened godhood, on which at last he learns to draw, he awakens the sleeping divinity in other men, inspires them to arise and unfold their hidden powers, assists them on the path which he himself has found and trod. He wields great power, releases and directs the forces of his own being. Nature's energies answer to his will. The angel hosts, who are the guardians and directors of all power, become his allies and his friends; constitute an army always at his command.

Thus, in every world, he becomes a man of power. Nature obeying him, he calls forth Her forces according to his need and directs them towards the fulfillment of the tasks he has elected to perform. The solar energies hidden deep within the earth now answer to his will. He evokes them, with their appropriate intelligences, who serve him in his work. Divinity expressed as fire answers to the fiery power of his awakened will. The powers and intelligences of fire [The angel teacher here refers to the four elements in the Aristotelian sense as principles of Nature. Vide the third book it this series "The Angelic Hosts." ] are at his command. With them he purifies his worlds, transforms and quickens them. His mastery of fire gives dynamic energy to every act and thought so that he moves among his fellow men, a man of fire.

The forces of the air and their directors, the mighty race of sylphs are at his command; they bear abroad the power of his creative word, become the embodiments of his resistless will. He shares their freedom throughout space, for to his illumined consciousness distance has ceased to be. The powers of water and all the race of water sprites and water kings and queens become his natural allies by whose aid he purifies, quickens and controls all things within the area of his influence.

Earth bestows upon him her unshakable stability. Magnetic and electric energies now answer to his will.

The denizens of earth, the race of gnomes, the gods of forest, vale and hill, of single peaks and mountain chains pay homage to the liberated son of man, lend him their mighty aid in all his labours upon earth.

His triune powers are manifest in fuller measure day by day. In the employment of his human will he now displays a growing measure of divine omnipotence. He knows and wields the resistless power of his immortal self. In its might he rules the cosmos of his being.

Thus the earthly man fulfills his destiny and attains his goal; omnipotent he conquers matter, controls the forces of nature, wins freedom from desire and makes of his heart and mind a pure translucency through which may shine on earth the splendour of his cosmic self.

Liberated from material imprisonment, he unifies the earthly and the cosmic man.

WITHIN the glory of that land which is eternally illumined by the first light which leaps forth when the Absolute becomes conditioned, there shine innumerable suns. Each is the cosmic heart of angel, man, or member of the kindred branches of the children of the Supreme.

The cosmic hearts of all evolving beings compose the heart of the Supreme. Together those hearts make up one cosmic heart through which Love is eternally poured forth. In that Love, the Supreme is omnipresent throughout the realm of being.

Amid the glorious light of that all embracing love the cosmic hearts of men shine with a greater brilliance and intensity. Each is the central sun of the individual cosmos over which the cosmic man shall rule. Every atom of the cosmic and universal fields in which the immortal spirit is destined to labour throughout aeonic ages is illumined by its light. In the splendour of that spiritual sun there can be no darkness nor any shadows. Naught can dim its ever­lasting radiance, its splendour and its power which grow from age to age. Wherever that sun shines, the cosmic man is present, for in the outward raying light of the spiritual sun which is his heart, he is omnipresent throughout the cosmos which he rules.

That cosmic heart gives life as well as light; as it illumines, it also vivifies. Every atom is self-illumined and self-sustained by virtue of the light and life hidden deep within. Thus both as light and life, cosmic man is omnipresent throughout his microcosmic realms.

This unbroken flow of spiritual light and life is gradually manifested in material worlds as the divine and perfect love of the triune godhead which is man. That love streams down through all his worlds. Sphere after sphere is illumined and vivified by its descending light and life.

Each earthly man contains within himself this mighty cosmic power. His heart gives light and life to the body, which is his cosmos in the densest world; it is the earthly representative of the cosmic sun and in it therefore the powers of the triune godhead are enshrined.

Thus the God in man is present in his human heart. Love is the expression of his divinity, by love he shall be glorified; attaining love's apotheosis he becomes a God. As that great consummation is gradually reached he finds the magic potency of love and learns to heal, to teach, and to inspire by virtue of its sovereign power.

Yet love cannot rule alone; it ever moves to union. Thus love spiritualized weds knowledge and from that celestial union springs a glorious progeny. Wisdom is the first-born, then follow tenderness, pity, divine compassion, sympathy, and perfect understanding, all irradiated by divine and perfect love. As man's love increases, the cosmos of his being likewise is increased. He continually extends the boundaries of his sphere of influence. The floodgates of his heart stand open. Love in all its resistless power pours forth in a mighty stream. That stream becomes an ocean, whose shores mark out the boundaries of the system of which he will become the omnipotent and omnipresent Lord.

Between the highest and the lowest, the cosmic and the earthly there is an unbroken flow of life and light and power. As cosmic man pours forth an increasing measure of that life, and light and power, so earthly man makes manifest increasingly the triune powers of his cosmic self.

Behind all manifested worlds there is eternal motion. The swinging pendulum imparts the quality of motion to the realms of being. Through motion, primordial energy passes into the manifested worlds. The pendulum moves on until the highest point of swing is reached, at which there is a pause; the densest state of matter has been reached, wherein that pause is manifest as relative inertia and stability. The pendulum swings back once more, until the midmost point is reached; thereat another pause occurs, as the pendulum swings through the land of everlasting light, into the eternal darkness of non-being. Force then has been withdrawn; motion has ceased; the manifested universes vanish. Consciousness, motion, force, change from the conditioned state into the un­conditioned; the finite disappears; only the Absolute remains. Such, in terms of motion, is a day of manifested life.

After the night of non-being, the pendulum returns; a new day is born; motion is imparted to the motionless; force is released; manifestation begins once more.

As the swinging pendulum is reproduced in man the microcosm, so man contains within himself a reflection of the threefold states of being, equipoise and non-being. He is a complete and perfect cosmos in miniature. Eternal motion, the parent of all force, is reproduced in man, as the source of all his energies. That source found beyond his cosmos in That from Which all cosmoi spring.

Light and life pervade him and his cosmos. They arise, dwell in, and flow through his heart; they manifest as love. Motion and force flow through his mind and give birth to thought. Intelligence therefore is the offspring of motion and of force. From cosmic sun to terrestrial atom, motion is the vehicle for the cosmic mind; force is the expression of cosmic thought.

Motion is behind all matter; force is within all form. In them the divine mind is immanent; through them divine omniscience is made manifest.

Man, too, knows his cosmos through the medium of motion and of force. He, too, is omniscient within the sphere of his own activities. Man, the microcosm walking on the earth, is omniscient within his own body, which is a universe within the cosmos of his being. As the cosmic becomes manifest in the earthly man, the field of his omniscience expands eventually to include his cosmic whole.

Thus the cosmic becomes the earthly; thus the triune Self of man is gradually made manifest throughout all realms as omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience.

EVOLVING man dwelling upon earth pursues his studies ever deeper into the interior regions of his own nature. He pierces through the illusion of separated form and sees the One Life; he breaks up material substance and finds the One Force. Plunging still deeper into the abstruse science of the spirit, he discovers behind both Life and Force, that eternal motion from which they spring. In his long and arduous search he breaks through the boundaries of the solar fields in which his earthly self is manifest and enters into the universe of which it is a part. From the universe he wins free of the cosmic whole, for his awakened will, one with the Will Divine, knows no obstacle within the realms in which he is made manifest. Then at last, beyond and yet within the boundaries of his cosmos, he finds himself, the triune God, the dweller in the realm of everlasting light.

The seed of omniscience which slept in him from the first, now comes to full flower. He contacts within himself the product of eternal motion and learns to wield its product, cosmic force. In worlds below, his thought is now illumined, his knowledge is profound. No secret in all the realms of being may be hidden from his mind. He identifies himself with manifested life, knows it as he knows himself, and thus omniscience is won.

The secret processes of Nature now are known by him. He understands the birth of jewel and of sun, the germination of the seed of plant, of animal, of man; he sees the myriads of the angelic hosts and comprehends their function in the scheme of being: the geometry of life as manifest in cosmos, in universe, in system and in sun, as in the atom which contains the whole in miniature: all this is now revealed to him. Seeing the whole, he becomes a god of knowledge, by virtue of his knowledge of God. No longer does he seek true knowledge from without, needs no more to observe external forms or processes. He turns within, dwelling in that world of divine thought, wherein all knowledge lies.

A giant of intelligence he now reveals himself to the few. Did he choose to show his powers forth, he would walk among men, a veritable God of knowledge and of power. Yet he veils his light lest its radiance should dazzle the eyes of men: lest the vision of an­other's truth should blind them to the truth within themselves. He draws within the circle of his illumination those whose eyes are fixed upon eternal truth, who seek the ultimate goal, and in whom the Self transcendent has begun in some measure, to shine forth. He becomes their teacher, they his students in the Temple of Eternal Truth.

None may enter those sacred precincts save those who, through many lives of searching without, have learned at last to look within; who, deluded through centuries by separated forms, begin at last to see the One Life. They, and they alone, can be safely led to those spiritual heights from which the swinging of the pendulum may be observed. None who clings solely to matter for support may behold eternal motion's mighty waves, lest, possessing naught but an illusion on which to hold, he be swept up by them and lost in the limitless immensity of being. None who still thinks himself a separated form may see the One Life face to face.

So must they qualify who would enter that Temple of Truth which has existed throughout all ages. Yet its doors are open wide. None guard the entrances; the great stairways extend downwards into the worlds wherein are lived the daily lives of men; nor are they too steep for any man to climb. Though the Temple has stood for countless centuries; though the stairways reach downwards into every land on earth, few indeed are they who have discovered them, while millions daily pass them by, too blinded by self-seeking and self-thought to perceive the stairway leading to the door.

Many men are seeking power, many seek to know, but few pursue that wisdom by which alone success may crown the search. Because of his innate triplicity, man may not discover Truth unless his search is threefold also. All men have within themselves the germ of cosmic knowledge, cosmic power and cosmic love. Between the eternal self-transcendent and the transient, earthly self, there is a triple bond of knowledge, power and love.

Man cannot win spiritual power or knowledge, without their eternal complement, spiritual wisdom which in the earthly man which is love. Without that essential third all search will be in vain. The altar of Truth cannot be approached unless the heart is full of love; for love springs from compassion, compassion from intuitive vision of unity and by intuition alone may divine knowledge and divine power be grasped and divine truth be perceived.

These aspects of his triune Godhead may be made manifest by man at will. He must learn the science of their release and practice the art of their employment.

The powers which he seeks reside within the God which is his highest Self; therefore he first must know that God. To that end he must know as lower self, the man of action, of feeling, and of thought; must realize his higher Self as man of will, of wisdom, and of knowledge. Then from the knowledge of his triple higher Self, he may pass into the knowledge of himself as God omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.

The starting point for all his studies therefore is his daily life, which must be perfected. He must free himself from the great illusion of the external world in which he lives, must pierce the veil of that illusion, until he sees that what his fellow men deem real is but the vaguest unreality. When the real has been discovered amid the unreal, his daily life must be ordered in the light of that discovery.

The first great change occurs in the motive by which his actions are inspired. That change is radical. He ceases entirely to judge the worth of action and event by its value to himself, by the increase of happiness and material possessions which it brings. He learns to see in every man the evolving God which he is seeking in himself, and having seen, he serves that God. He comes to know the body as the transient and illusory covering which hides the God from view. He learns to meet and deal with all men as God should meet and deal with God.

The hand so long outstretched to grasp or to repel is now held forth to give and to protect. The brain which planned the day's activities to the end of increased material success, now meditates upon the task of stewardship, and the proper use of all that has been gained.

He sees his home as the solar system over which with great beneficence he rules; his town as a universe, himself its sun, giver of life and light, a never­failing source of power and love. He looks upon his nation as a God regards the cosmos in which His labours are performed; a living organism, each human cell an embryonic God.

His growing powers, increasing wisdom, and wider knowledge are not employed for the exploitation of those less favored than himself, nor to gain wealth, fame and domination; for he learns that these are shadows, parts of the great illusion whose unconscious victim he hitherto has been; now freed, his growing powers are used but to widen the sphere of his usefulness, to relieve the sick, the suffering, and the sad, to uplift the downtrodden, to spread happiness abroad; to shine, in increasing measure, with the glory of his transcendent Self, the triune God Which is within.

Each of his triple attributes must now be equally employed, for he learns that power exerted with­out wisdom does not avail. Love poured forth without knowledge and discrimination brings sorrow in its train. Knowledge may give power, but is barren unless employed with love. Thus power, love and knowledge are as shining jewels in the crown of glory which now adorns his brow. Self-knowledge now is his, won by the discovery of the Self.

THE long ages of his evolutionary past must form the subject of deep study by him who would discover and release the powers of his transcendent Self. To understand his present, to fulfill the promise of the future, he must know in some measure the story of the past. That story is imprinted in its entirety upon that vehicle of consciousness which persists from life to life, the immortal principle wherein are stored all the products of his age-long pilgrimage. His growing powers enable him to tap that perfect memory of his higher Self, and so to read the story of his many lives. Thus he studies his innate capacities, the instincts, intuitions, and natural abilities with which he was born.

These are the expression, in terms of action, of feeling, and of thought, of the faculties which have resulted from the past. He sees in himself perchance, a tendency to achieve his ends by the power of his will. He finds himself a leader of his fellow men.

He seeks within for the cause of this phenomenon, this tendency to achieve all things by the force of will. He finds that in his many earlier lives he has been possessed of temporal power. He sees himself as lord of many a savage tribe, and later, overseer, captain of the armies of a greater lord, leader of great expeditions and immigrations, as explorer, soldier, vice­roy, king. He learns that in those many lives the God within was seeking to express omnipotence; that gleams from the light of his transcendent Self shone through them and gave him the power to rule and lead his fellow men.

The knowledge gained upon the Path which leads to the Temple of Truth tells him that power alone is of little worth. He begins to guard his actions, lest by the use of will alone he injure instead of heal, hurt instead of help, override rather than inspire. He seeks immediately to soften the harshness of his actions and decisions, and deliberately to enkindle within himself a love which shall be commensurate with his growing power. If need be, he will seek for lives when he was feminine, and omnipresence expressed itself as tenderness, compassion, as love, as wifely and maternal care.

Thus, studying himself, he notes his powers and deficiencies. He labours to perfect the powers and to remedy deficiencies. If still unloving, or if love is second always to the will, then he will meditate on love, and, Theseus-like, will guide himself by the thread of life which links him with the omnipresent God. One with the love of God, he will share the light and life­bestowing function of the sun, will know the beauty and the meaning of the ever-open heart, and in his daily life will seek to emulate that sun, which is the earthly symbol of his omnipresent Self. He will associate deliberately with those in need, with every form of suffering and want, and shed on all the rays of his beneficence. In his own home he will be heart as well as head; will pour forth light and love and tenderness, and use his power to lead, inspire and protect rather than to rule and overawe. With will thus tempered and restrained, he enters the Temple of Truth by virtue of the omnipotence of the Self within.

Should the aspirant find himself a scientist, a man who tends to plunge into the abstruser mysteries of Nature and of life: who seeks knowledge and yet perchance neglects his service to his family and state: who, when a secret force is found, or a new principle discovered, instantly protects it, so that he may gather in the greatest gain entirely for himself. Seeking now the highest truth, he will correct these errors and order all his actions according to the light shining above the altar of the Temple of Truth.

He will learn to recognize the unity behind the manifold diversity of men: to see the whole humanity as composed of Gods, even as himself, not to be exploited, but served. He will begin to realize the true function of the scientist in the service of the state and of the world. He will cease henceforth to probe the mysteries of Nature for individual gain; he will study but to give.

When this great change has been made, man will at last be able to win true knowledge for Nature then will recognize his right to know Her secret lore. Knowing now that knowledge by itself is worthless: that power used for selfish ends may constitute the gravest danger to the human soul, he deliberately fills his life with love. For love, wedded to knowledge, produces wisdom, which is the heart of all science and the light by which alone truth may be perceived.

He too will read his earlier lives and find therein the source of his present genius, will watch there the birth and gradual development of his love for knowledge. He will find himself in olden times as theurgist, soothsayer, and astrologer, as alchemist and astronomer, as scientist and engineer. He will live again his lives in ancient lands when he employed the powers of Nature to build the temples and the pyramids which still exist as monuments to the science of those ancient days. He will see himself as hermit and as monk; mayhap as sorcerer and student of magic in its many forms; sometimes coming to disaster and learning much therefrom, conscious always of a steadily increasing thirst for truth and a greater aptitude for science.

Thus the man of science seeks to discover and to remedy deficiencies; to fill his life with deeds of self­less love and altruism; to put at the service of the world his growing knowledge and the power which it gives. As an aspirant to truth, it will now become impossible for him to make his secret processes a means of self-aggrandisement and the acquisition of possessions. He pierces the great illusion of the material world and knows all the objects which men hold worthy of desire as worthless, transient as a mirage. Should he grasp them even for a moment, he will become enmeshed in the web of the great delusion from which now it is his purpose to emancipate the world.

He seeks therefore those awards which shall be more permanent. He knows that the just reward of knowledge used to serve, is more knowledge, and wider fields in which to serve. Amid the transient he seeks the eternal, knowing that the real things are invisible, all that is visible is unreal. Surrounded by physically generated energies, the supply of which can only be maintained by artificial means, he seeks that power which increases as it is employed, that light which shines more brightly as its spendour is revealed, that life which, flows forth with increasing abundance as it is employed to nourish and sustain. He turns continually to the invisible, investigates the many hidden worlds and their inhabitants which, though physically ghostly and unreal are far more permanent than the temporal world in which he hitherto has lived.

In this great search for Truth he becomes conscious of an inner guidance and of teachers wiser, far, than he. Soon he discovers that the mighty Guardians of the Race are guiding him, that the angel agents of all natural powers recognize him as their friend: lay bare before him their special knowledge of the universal life which permeates the ephemeral shadow world in which he lives. Thus guided by Those Great Ones Who have gone before and illumined by his own awakening omniscience, he passes through the door of knowledge into the Temple of Truth.

His brother aspirants the priests, the healers and philanthropists will find their entrance through the door of love. Already they have learnt to serve and have begun to glimpse the splendour of the path of love. The love of God is already born in them; it shall grow into full stature and make them saviours of the world. Their lesson is to leave behind love limited to individuals, for this prevents the expression in their lives of universal love. All men must be to them as are their firstborn sons. Such love knows no distinctions, sees no barriers of family relationship, of race or colour, knows nought of differences of sex.

The love of him who saves the world seeks nothing in return; it asks not even for an answering love. It pours forth continuously through the opened heart of the lover of mankind. Heedless of all refusals, un­daunted by the selfishness of men, seeking neither to embrace nor to hold, he lives but to illumine and to save.

He who would tread the lover's path to God must be passion-free, must emancipate himself from the dominion of desire. The faintest trace of lust, of passion, of sexual desire, will sully all his love and make it an unworthy offering on the altar of the God of Love. Therefore, he must work to purify his soul, till it shines with the bright splendour of the sun which is his archetype, the model upon which his life of service must be built. If he would serve as priest of love to men, the chalice of his soul must be of a pure and exquisite translucency.

If he, too, seeks in earlier lives for understanding of the present, and guidance for the future, he will find himself as priest in many an ancient land, as Hierophant in the temples of the ancient mysteries, as vestal virgin, sybil, soothsayer and seer. In the great civilizations of long ago, he will find himself as monk, as travelling preacher and healer, as loving friend of the poor, and as God's messenger to man. Perchance he will observe that his high ideal of love has been many times betrayed. He will see the need of intellect to guide the expression of his love, of will for the transmutation of desire. He will recall the ancient lore and knowledge of the healing art; will learn again to use the life force in his own body, the properties of plant and herb, to heal the sick. He will heal by the power of the love of God, by the means of natural energies, and by the assistance of the angelic hosts. Studying the past, he will see the power of religion in its early days, when all its priests and servants still shone with the Light they saw within the Founder's eyes, still bore the power which they had received from Him. He will restore the ancient sacramental art of healing and uplifting by the laying on of hands.

These many threads of his past lives he will gather up again and weave them into a new design which shall display the beauties of the purest and most perfect love. He will strive to increase the potency of love by evoking from within himself and blending with his love the power of his divine omniscience and omnipotence. All his labours will be irradiated by the inexhaustible outpouring of his love. The omnipresent God will send down from on high His light and life, will widen the channels of its flow until His representative on earth seems more than mortal man, lives as a veritable God of love.

Within these three main paths of knowledge, power and love are many lesser paths, all leading to the self­same goal. Through these three doors there is a way for all into the Temple of Truth. The way is barred to none, the doors are never closed. The only barriers which exist are within man's self: no hand can strike them down, save his who built them up. The delusion of the separated self, the desire for personal gain, the craving for power and position: pride of place, of race, of possession: lust and cruelty: these are the barriers which one by one must be cast down, ere man may climb the steps leading to the doorway of the Temple of Eternal Truth.

A NATION'S standing in the eyes of the spiritual Guardians of mankind is measured not by the value of its possessions, the many lands which it has conquered, or by any physical achievements but by the number of its sons who have found and trod the path­way leading to Eternal Truth. All other honours pertain but to the nation's separated self, to the realm of the unreal. Physical power and prosperity may even lower the value of a nation as an agent for the fulfilment of its highest destiny. He who would exalt his nation's honor, remove the evils of its civilization, and would make his people's name great upon the earth should turn to the transcendent Self within and from thence release the powers by means of which alone those ideals may be realized. He must purify and perfect his earthly self, must find his way into the Temple of Truth, before he can truly be a leader, guide and teacher of his race.

In those who thus have labored, and by self­restraint, self-training and by service have won the right to power, to knowledge and to love, consists the true aristocracy of the world. Their nobility springs from the exaltation of the God within them, not from the mere accident of noble birth. They win their rank by intensity of effort, self sacrifice and spiritual worthiness; their reward does not consist of social precedence or any earthly fame. They are rewarded by the gift of greater power, deeper love, wider knowledge, with which to serve their nation and their race.

Unimagined spiritual treasures await those who will tread this upward path. Undreamed-of glory awaits the nation which embraces and expresses high ideals and sets a spiritual standard to which all other nations may aspire. Its peoples shall become the leaders of the human race. They shall rule by virtue of their spiritual power, and to them shall be born splendid sons and daughters, great beings who by their lives and leadership shall exalt the whole race of man.

The foremost nations of the world approach the point in their evolution when the spiritual power which unperceived has guided and supported them must now begin to shine forth in their nation's life and in their international relationships. The national transcendent Self must also be made manifest. Humanity as a whole must one day tread that road which now is trodden only by its foremost sons. A nation's true wealth consists of the spiritual power of every member of the national community.

In the land of everlasting light, the transcendent cosmic Selves of those whose earthly bodies constitute a nation or a race, commune continually for the welfare and more rapid growth both of their lower representatives, the earthly men, and of the nation from which their earthly nurture and protection are de­rived. They seek to pour down an ever richer measure of the light, the power, and the splendour which is theirs; to inspire their nation with their all-embracing vision of the beauty and the purpose of manifested life.

In ancient days the noblest nations of the world consulted and were guided by their Gods. Their rulers and their aristocracy were self-illumined men, through whom the wisdom of the God enthroned on high shone forth, and was a beacon light to guide their nations through the stormy sea of life. Hosts of bright angels served the high Gods as messengers, served their earthly counterparts as companions, inspirers, and guides. In those days men lived the godly life, knew the power of the God within, dreamed of the splendour of their own immortal Godhead, caught, and in their lives and works portrayed, the vision of the never-fading glory of the land of ever­lasting light.

Throughout millennia of centuries, nation after nation arising on the earth has lifted the human race to the highest pinnacle of spiritual and physical development attainable in the age to which the race belonged. Thus in later days, India arose, Egypt, and Babylon. Then followed Greece, the light of whose divinity found a clear reflection in that Rome which was the mistress of her world in the days when she was God-inspired and divinely led.

To her dominions came the Christ, transcendent love incarnate upon earth. Then darkness fell, as if the life-bearing pendulum had paused in its age-long and eternal swing; but now at last amid the darkness, dawn appears. The dwellers in the land of eternal light know that the pendulum swings on from age to age bearing with it resistlessly, men and suns, systems, universes and cosmoi. They see the dawning of a fairer day, they know that soon another nation shall arise in which the Gods shall once more rule, and whose ministers, guided by the light of spiritual knowledge, shall lead their nation to greater evolutionary heights. Soon the day must dawn when humanity shall recognize the light of that divine wisdom which alone is the patent of nobility and bestows the authority to rule.

In days of old the Gods were the helpers of man­kind. Glorified and saintly ones came from far-distant worlds, and gave to men the lordly wisdom to which unaided they could not yet attain. In those old days the earthly representatives of man the cosmic God, dwelt in darkness, knowing nothing of the mighty power, the wisdom and the love which are truly theirs in their transcendent Selves.

Long ages now have passed. The outer Gods have been withdrawn in order than mankind may learn the rule and power of the God within, and, learning, pay homage to that rule. The listening ears of the nations of the world even now begin to hear the voice of the inner immortal ruler, for the transcendent Selves of men are sending down their power and their wisdom from the land of everlasting light into the outer realms of being. Earthly man begins to feel the tremor of that power, to perceive the awakening deep within himself of that higher reason, from which, one day, wisdom will be born.

At last, after the passage of long ages, the spiritual Self in man begins to shine forth; but not in every man. Small groups and isolated men, scattered widely over the earth begin to hear the inner voice and to see the inner light. These strive to awaken the nations, that, God-guided, they may learn to live and rule in peace, and their people may be lifted towards those spiritual heights which it is their destiny to climb.

Yet still, a yawning chasm separates the immortal Gods seated on high from their earthly counterparts. The Gods bend all their mighty powers to bridge the gulf. Man, too, must reach upwards and inwards into his immortal Self and clasp the hand of his own divinity, for thus alone, the great gulf may be bridged. The bridge once built, the mind, brain and heart of earthly man will be illumined; power, wisdom and knowledge will be his. He will become a saviour of his nation, and later, a saviour of mankind.

He who thus would serve his fellowmen: who, filled with anguish for their suffering and their woes, would heal their wounds and make them glad, he who would banish ugliness from the surroundings of the poor, would give them the freedom of the woods and fields, pure air, bright sunshine and fresh food; he who would cure the sick, and, healing all their pains, lead them to a new life of health and happiness; he who would drive away all evil from his nation and the world, would banish deceit, self-seeking, craftiness, and cruel cunning, with all their dread results upon the lives of those who fall beneath their power; he who would make his nation beautiful, fit dwelling­-place for God-illumined men, would see flowers of immortal loveliness blooming in the dark lives of those crushed down by need and labor without hope, would bring within their reach the joys of art and beauty, refinement, self-culture and high endeavor, where now are ugliness, self-indulgence and vice - let him first realize that these changes cannot be produced by an external power alone, however great: by any legislation, however wise: by any service to the form, however full of deep self-sacrifice. These are but the accompaniments and the necessary active expression of that hidden force for good which lies within both reformer and reformed.

The power lies within by which alone the gulf between the spiritual and the earthly man may be bridged. The reformer first must bridge that gulf within himself; he himself must be illumined by the light of his own divinity; for not till then may he help his brother man to bridge the gulf which he himself has crossed. Once bridged, the light beyond will shine through him into his nation's life, darkness will be banished, and ugliness will disappear.

The world's need is very great; great, too, is man's opportunity; for all the liberated Ones, the Saviours of the world, are pouring forth Their light and power for the illumination of a darkened world. Many bridges have been built, many now are in the building, many more will yet arise. In the far future the nations themselves will become the bridge from earth to heaven and the spiritual and the earthly selves be one. Until that time shall come the need is great, the laborers are few. Men must arise from every side who will perceive the gulf and begin to build the bridge.

THE successful building of the bridge, both individual and national demands the exercise of will. By will alone the restless activity of the mind, the surging passions and emotions of the heart and the potent forces of the body may be controlled. The root powers of which each of these aspects of the earthly man are composed must be mastered and their energies directed inward towards the spiritual Self. Their energies thus mastered, the vehicles of thought, feeling and of action may be used for the building of the bridge. To this end, the mind must be harmonized and still, the emotions calm and pure and the bodily expression become expert and rhythmical. All strain of mind, of feeling and of body must be replaced by equipoise and ease.

To achieve this self-mastery man must evoke and use his powers of spiritual will; for by will alone may that stillness be achieved, which is essential to expert self-expression in mental, emotional and physical worlds. Unless the mind itself is still, power is dissipated and higher vision is blurred. As the image of the sun, falling upon the wind-swept surface of a pool, is split into a thousand images, and none of them is true, so is the image of the spiritual Self distorted by an unquiet mind. Therefore the aspirant must practice quietude, passing many hours in contemplation of the equipoise of God; must find that peace unshakable which is beyond all motion and all sound. Then may he enter the hall of silence which is the antechamber of the Temple of Truth. There he will learn those lessons which silence alone can teach; for he must acquire the virtue of silence, ere he may be entrusted with the potent knowledge which shall be his when his novitiate is passed. He must blend internal stillness with external silence and perfect self­restraint.

Deep sunk in contemplation of the silence behind all earthly sound, of the darkness behind all earthly light, a sound will break the silence in which his soul is plunged, a light will steal across his darkened vision. Still undisturbed and still unmoved, a voice of surpassing sweetness will fall upon his inner ear, and his soul will be illumined by a vision of immortal loveliness. Its light will illumine the path by which he may pass through the ever open doorway into the Temple of Eternal Truth, will guide him to the altar, where at last he will hear the voice of his own immortal Self. Power then will arise within him and give him strength and equipoise in the realms which he has newly won, and enable him to penetrate still deeper into the world of spiritual light where dwells the transcendent Self.

Thus awakened and illumined, he will review the problems, the sorrows, the doubts and diverse difficulties of the millions dwelling in the darkness of the world below. As he meditates, the light of wisdom will illumine him. With clear vision and unclouded mind he will perceive the causes of the sorrows of mankind and their cures. Even though as yet he sees but faintly the power and the splendour of the immortal Self of man, he knows with utter certitude that they are all-sufficient for the support and guidance of the earthly man; that where they are manifest no evil can resist their power, no darkness withstand their blazing light.

Self-illumined now, he studies the collective mind of man, sees the mental body of the world. He gazes upon it as a watcher safe on land, surveys the restless, troubled sea, the foaming breakers, the storm-rocked coasts, sees the heavens darkened overhead, and the ocean troubled from below. He sees both the splendour of the light above, the profoundity of the darkness of the earth below. He sees that the many minds of man are but one world-mind; that the thoughts of one affect the whole; that a mental tumult in a nation or a man disturbs the equanimity of every nation and of every man. He sees the places in the world where there is mental peace; he also sees the gathering storms upon the distant horizon of the mental world. The dark clouds gather, lightnings flash, the thunder rolls, jagged streaks of flame play across the sea of human mind, inflaming and exciting as they play.

He sees an area in which all the mental ocean is a maelstrom whirling round a central point, a place where all the waves turn in upon themselves. He sees the circle widen, as league on league of sea becomes involved and thousands of men are swept into the mental swirl. Looking down, he sees the nation on the earth below wholly concentrated upon itself, sublimely ignorant of the mental unity of man and seeking to absorb the powers and possessions of another for itself. He sees within the nation's ranks self­seeking man, oblivious of the laws of brotherhood, contributing to the darkness and the maelstrom in the mental world. He sees a nation deep sunk in gross materialism, denying the divinity of man.

Sometimes it seems as if the restless waves would grow more peaceful of themselves, as if, within them dwells an influence of calm, but as the turmoil seems to cease, a sudden rumbling from the earth below disturbs the process of becoming still, and once again great waves are flung on high, and where peace hovered, about to descend, the storms break out anew, and all the manifold disturbances are redoubled and increased.

Yet even amid the storms, the maelstroms and dark clouds, bright lights are shining; he sees great men, seers, saints, wise rulers and philanthropists, and those who, like himself, have won their way into the Temple of Truth. Also clear mental skies under which are happy nations, still primitive, and, as yet un­tutored in worldly ways, unstained by doctrines of doubt and selfishness, conscious still of family and tribal love.

In yet another region of the mental world, the glowing splendour of the spiritual sun shines full and fair and is mirrored with exactitude, for there is perfect peace on earth below. Here dwell the Holy Ones, the Hierophants of Truth, the Priests and Guardians of Its Temple, the Mediators through Whose translucency the light of the transcendent Self shines forth in all its glorious perfection. Here great hosts of angels pass and repass, robed in light, singing songs of joy, shining with myriad hues. They gather in vast companies around the Holy Ones and serve Them in Their labors for mankind. Continually they seek to pierce the darkness, to drive away the storm clouds, to still the waves and stay the maelstrom's awful spin. Some plunge, regardless of the lurid flashes and the angry waves, deep into the worlds below, bearing to those who dwell therein a vision of the wondrous light and beauty of the worlds above.

While thus he gazes on the auras of the nations of the world, observes their mental atmospheres, their failings and their virtues, their future possibilities, their place upon the canvas on which the picture of earth's humanity is slowly to appear, he grows in wisdom. He learns to see all men as one, all nations as branches of the human family of God. He recognizes kinship amid diversity, sees that each nation has its colour and its place upon the canvas, upon which the Supreme Artist paints from age to age. The boundaries which separate the nations of the world are but the tubes in which the paint is stored. Ere the picture may be complete, the colour must come forth and be applied. Thereafter the empty tubes are thrown away.

In the light of this vision of mankind as one, the neophyte becomes a citizen of the world; though he recognizes kinship and nationality, these serve no more as barriers between him and the world. Thus he liberates himself from the prison walls of blood relationship, of class and nationality; he knows all men as brethren of the house of God. Thus he attains the vision splendid of the One behind the many and learns to forsake the personal for the national, the national for the international, the international for the universal. He knows all life as one and indivisible; he knows all form as vehicle for the One. He is illumined by the vision of the Whole; he bows low before the altar of Truth, for at last he has seen Truth face to face.

Heavenly man and earthly man are now united. The temple is needed no more, for he himself becomes a shrine. He has found the altar of his own soul. The heavenly communion has been consummated; within his heart the Holy Eucharist is continually performed.

The beam of light and power which links him to the cosmic man in the land of light eternal grows wider and more intensely luminous. Light floods down to illumine and empower him in all his labours in the worlds below. He becomes an incarnation of the Truth, for he has seen the vision of the Whole. The splendour of his vision shines about him, his eyes are filled with its light; be moves with the bearing of a king. His manhood is lifted up into his Godhead, for the power of the God has found release; henceforth he displays the attributes of that divinity which one day will raise him to the level of a solar God.

Liberated from every weakness, emancipated from every limitation, he has won his freedom from sorrow, from separation and from sin. He enters into the kingdom of bliss, of union and of translucent purity. He stands upon the summit of a spiritual mount; his vision of the worlds beneath and of the people of those worlds is perfect; it is the vision of a God Who, one day, will become the creator of peoples and of worlds. Serene, joyous, invincible and immaculate, he exults in the knowledge of his divinity and of the inexhaustible reservoirs of power which are now at his command. Exalted, illumined, he turns his most compassionate gaze upon the millions of his fellow­men who still toil in the worlds below, unconscious of divinity, ignorant of their own inherent power, lost in the maze of earthly life, helpless in the grip of the fate which they have created for themselves. He longs to lead them along the pathway of release, to show them the vision of their immortality, to see the light of divinity shine forth from their sorrow-laden eyes.

He stretches forth his hands in blessings; great floods of power pass downwards to the worlds below. Filled with intense and deep compassion, he turns once more to the world of men which he left as a suppliant and to which he now returns with power to save. Still he broods upon his vision of the collective mind of man. He sees the everlasting light above, the transient darkness beneath, the restless human mind between. Thereafter he shares increasingly the age­long labours of the Hierophants of Truth; he becomes a builder of the bridge across which earthly man will pass to knowledge of union with his own transcendent Self.

THE daily life of man on earth is far removed from the eternal life of his cosmic spiritual counterpart. As man treads the winding road which leads him to the stars, the eternal and the daily are gradually becoming unified. The light of the eternal will one day perfectly illumine the darkness of the world of days and hours.

The duration of eternity and the knowledge of the ever present now are lost as man descends into the dominions ruled by time. Man must therefore conquer time, must find the pathway of escape from all its limitations, must free himself from the illusion of the separated periods of past, present, and future, learning to live in the eternal now. Freed from time, he will be also free from every limitation to which incarnation in the matter of the lower worlds has forced him to submit.

The way of release is found by the deliberate withdrawal of the consciousness away from the lower worlds of action and of form and its gradual establishment in the higher worlds of pure being and of formlessness. The battle of life is far more easily decided in favour of the evolving God by a process of withdrawal of the human consciousness away from the field of action than by the concentration of spiritual powers and faculties upon the battle and the field. If the aspirant will withdraw the life and consciousness from vice, viciousness will disappear; change the center of interest from the self incarnate in the flesh to the Self in spiritual worlds, selfishness will disappear: turn all the aspirations and ideals of the soul towards achievement that shall be eternal, escape from the dominion of time and space will have been achieved. He must fight no longer; but withdraw: crave no longer for personal success and fleeting happiness, but seek only the fulfilment of the plan of God.

Within this simple truth lies the answer to every problem of human life.

Failure to perceive and recognize it is the cause of every human sorrow. Sorrow is the great illuminator, for sorrow continuously demonstrates that failure until the truth has been perceived.

This lesson learnt, he withdraws himself from all these earthly pleasures which hitherto have claimed his life and interest thereby gaining mastery over the worlds to which they belong. By withdrawing from objects of desire, he wins the mastery of desire itself. The pleasures of the world lose their hold upon him, its sorrows no longer depress him, for he has found the means whereby they may be relieved. Though he may feel them deeply, may suffer with the sufferers, yet his heart is full of joy in the knowledge that suffering belongs to time and space, whilst the bliss which now is his, and which one day will belong to all, endures throughout eternity.

With this knowledge in his hands as key of joy and pain, of life and death, the earthly man in search of liberation from the woes of life and the imprisonment of time may unlock the doorway of the dispensary of Nature and find the sovereign cure for every human ill, may find the pathway of release and finding point the way to all his fellowmen.

As he withdraws from the dominion of the lower worlds he draws nearer to that divinity which is the source of all his life and power. Approaching that source, more life and more power descend upon him and the transcendent Self exercises increasing control upon the earthly man, lends his will to strike off the shackles which have bound him to the earth, his wisdom to comprehend the cause of all his sorrow, his knowledge to discover the pathway of return.

One object, then, fills his mind, one ideal forms the background of his life; he lives to share the knowledge he has won, to point out the pathway of release from sorrow and to lead his brethren thereupon from suffering to bliss. Ere this great task may be accomplished, he himself must be utterly purified, his vehicles finally be rid of all the grossness and impurity with which they have been sullied through many lives before the pathway has been found. No traces must be left behind, for he must achieve perfect translucency, so that the power by which he ministers to his brothers' need flows through him unsullied and unstained. Rather must it be beautified by the addition of human love and human tenderness.

This absolute translucency is attained by the application of the fire of the will. Retiring deep within himself, he draws forth from the transcendent Self floods of purifying power, streams of fiery energy, which will sweep through all his vehicles and burn up the dross by which they have hitherto been stained. Layer after layer of his nature will thus be cleansed, until at last he, earthly man, is pure, even to the inmost recesses of the soul. Pure within, he moves unstained and unsullied amid impurity without. Desire no longer claims a place within his thoughts and feelings, for he has purged himself of all desire.

Within the earthly man thus purified, the transcendent Self takes up Its abode. The radiance, the beauty, the power and the knowledge of the evolving God shine forth through the earthly man. The supernal light and power of the cosmic man is at last reflected in his earthly representative. The stability, serenity and the poise of the land of everlasting light show forth in his activities on earth.

From his experience in time and space he acquires the knowledge of eternity; his human powers and faculties are quickened and exalted to their divine expression. His vision now includes the past, the present and the future, the distant and the near. By its aid all knowledge lies within his reach; no secret within the orbit of the furthest planet of the system in which he dwells is hid from his all-penetrating gaze. As thus he grows, as the transcendent Self becomes more and more incarnate in the flesh, as earthly man becomes exalted into perfect godliness, he transcends even the limitations of his solar realms and moves at will throughout the universe. He becomes a servant of the Solar Rulers, labouring throughout universal time and space. Exalted thus, the earthly man becomes one with the transcendent Self, later to be merged with his cosmic counterpart. Then at last he will take up his abode in the land of everlasting light.

BEHIND the darkness of earthly existence the light of divinity is ever shining; behind its sorrow and distress exists eternal bliss; behind the toil, the labour and the strain, are eternal rest, peace and serenity unshakable. For these are pairs of opposites; each proves the existence of the other, as darkness is a proof of light.

All men will complete their age-long pilgrimage through the darkness, the sorrow and the toil of the transient worlds and will pass into the eternal light, experience eternal bliss and enter into everlasting peace. The duration of their sojourn in the worlds below depends entirely upon themselves. If they dally in the darkness seeking to grasp the elusive pleasures of the shade, their sojourn will be long and their passage full of woe; if, in answer to the vision of the light which comes to every man continually, they deny themselves the soft delights of dalliance amid the shadows of the illusory worlds, they may pass quickly from the darkness to the light and their passage will be full of joy.

Man, and man alone, decides the period and the nature of his pilgrimage, whether it be slow and painful, or swift and full of happiness. As every man sees continually the vision of the light, so every man receives continually the necessary power and knowledge to ensure his safe and rapid travelling through darkness to everlasting light. His sorrows are produced solely by the closing of his eyes to the vision of the light, by sloth in the employment of his power, and by failure to apply the knowledge which is his.

To save man from the sorrow which he thus inflicts upon himself and to hasten his pilgrimage, Messengers from the land of everlasting light from time to time have visited him. These are mighty Ones Who have won freedom and are united with Their cosmic Selves. Voluntarily They assume the burden of earthly life and submit Themselves to the imprisonment of the flesh to aid mankind to gain a clearer vision of the light and to call forth a fuller measure of their inherent power and knowledge.

Each of these Guardians of the Race has His special followers and devotees, who gather round Him when He comes and who worship Him throughout the centuries which follow His departure. Every Saviour leads a number of His chosen people to their spiritual home, to union with their transcendent Selves. Yet mankind as a whole pays little heed; the great mass marches slowly and with infinite pain along the slow and winding road of human evolution.

Wars devastate their ranks, plague, famine, disease and Nature's cataclysms decimate the people. The struggle for physical existence grows keener as the centuries pass. The burden of human incarnation grows heavier and more difficult to bear, in spite of rapid progress in the development of mind. Still the nations will not listen to the voices of their illumined Sons, Who, age by age come forth to teach the brotherhood of man. Religions are founded and churches built; still the nations walk in blindness, and stumble through fear and hatred, into war.

The heavenly and the cosmic counterparts of nations, and of men, save for the few, have as yet been powerless to save their earthly representatives. Blinded by the passion for material possession and earthly sovereignty, they fail to see the light which shines upon them from above. Deafened by the clamour which accompanies their halting progress they do not hear the voice of the all-wise Counsellor Who is their deepest Self.

The progress of humanity through this long age of darkness depends greatly upon the efforts of individuals. All great reforms owe their initial impulse to the vision of one woman or one man. The emancipation of the world calls for superhuman efforts by those who would truly save. The task would seem impossible were it not that behind each man there is the heavenly man, himself a representative of the cosmic man, wielding cosmic powers. Vast spiritual energies are locked up in the deepest self of even the humblest member of the human race. By virtue of these powers there is not one who might not even now become a saviour of his people, for the saviour exists in embryo in every man.

That saviour-to-be stands eternally at the doorway of the soul and knocks. Few men give answer; still fewer open the door to let the Saviour in. That closed doorway to the heart of humanity is the greatest tragedy of human life; for limitless power, all-embracing wisdom, and perfect knowledge lie as yet unused in the inner recesses of man's being. Spiritually, the world without is as an arid desert; cries of suffering are heard on every side, yet human ears are deaf to the transcendent Self which ever stands and knocks. The spiritual power, the wisdom and the knowledge to which every man is heir remains undiscovered and unused, even in his hours of greatest need.

If man is to enter into the rich heritage of his spiritual possessions, the knock must be answered and the door be opened wide. His true teacher then will guide him to self-knowledge of his powers and the method of their employment. Before that great privilege is won, the aspirant must emancipate himself from selfishness, be filled with longing to relieve his fellow men from pain, become strong, pure, humble and deeply compassionate. Thus prepared, he may enter into his spiritual heritage and learn to wield the mighty powers of his divinity; thus armed, there shall be no suffering which he cannot relieve, no evil which he cannot dispel, no troubled heart to which he can not give peace. He shall enter on the Path which every Saviour of the world has trod; mankind will be lifted up by every upward step he takes, be strengthened by every power which he learns to wield, become illumined by his ever-widening vision and healed by his all embracing love.

THE spiritual name is the expression of the individual in terms of eternity. It belongs neither to time nor space, but is beyond them both. Cosmoi, universes and solar systems each have their spiritual names. The human kingdom of a universe, as of a single globe also has its spiritual name, which conceals the complete history of the race as of the individual in terms of the eternal now. Yet it also reveals the whole history of both race and individual, from the beginning of creation to the end; it denotes both the spark of the divine flame, and the flame which that spark eventually becomes. It includes the triune germ of divinity and the fully unfolded omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience, with all the stages of unfoldment which lie between. When an individual learns his true name, he enters into his divine heritage; when that name is uttered all that is most deeply sacred in his nature is revealed. All the long past, from the dawn of the Logoic day, is contained within that synthesis of sound which is the spiritual name.

The kingdom of the angels also has its spiritual name, as has every member of the angelic hosts.

When at last an angel discovers his true name, all the powers of the angelic kingdom, from infusoria to solar deity, are placed within his hands. When he repeats his name, he liberates those powers as far as the divinity within him is unfolded and the infinite vibrations of his spiritual name may resound through­out his being.

The name of man and angel may not be uttered below the level of the formless worlds, for the mighty swing of its vibration would shatter very form.

The name of the human kingdom signifies divine transcendence, that of the angel kingdom, divine immanence. When immanence and transcendence meet, perfection is attained. Each, incomplete without the other, is perfected by union with its complementary truth. Such union exists within the consciousness of That, Which is both human and angelic, immanent and transcendent, Which both pervades and remains, Which lives in the land of eternal light and permeates every atom of the cosmic fields of space.

Union between angels and men who labour and evolve within those fields is a material expression of that spiritual truth of which unity is the central heart. The immanent and the transcendent meet in the Ruler of a Universe, one must they also become in external manifestation. Angels and men must recognize their natural affinity, labour together for the fulfilment of the divine Will, and together enter into the full manifestation of their spiritual heritage.

Thus the One Will shall rule, the One Love shall enfold and protect, and the One Power shall be made manifest throughout all worlds.

FINIS

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