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| Around the Year with Emmet Fox |
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Christmas Tidings
Posted on: 12/01/2007
As we review the Christmas story we must remember that everything is allegorical as well as mystical. Everything in our lives too is an allegory of our own souls. Everything that you do, everything that happens to you, is a dramatization of something in yourself. And the life of Jesus is a dramatization of the Christed soul, the soul which has chosen the spiritual path. He was born to a simple family in a stable. The stable is our present state of consciousness with its feelings of unworthiness. It symbolizes the Christ that is born into anyone of us the moment we give our whole hearts to God. When the angel first appeared to the shepherds their first reaction was fear. How human! How like ourselves! They were frightened at first because it seemed to good to be true. This is the tragedy of human nature. We think something is too good to be true; but trouble never surprises us. So the angel said to the shepherds -and this is one of the most important texts in the Bible - "Fear not." A great prayer! "Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy." The angels brought the shepherds a message which they could understand. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. The shepherds got their inspiration, they did not sit idly waiting for something to happen. They went and found the Christ child. And of course, the one thing that matters in our lives from our birth to our death is for us to find the Christ child.
We must find Him for ourselves, find him in a stable and let him grow up and turn it into a palace, not a material palace, not one built with hands, the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The star, which the Wise Men undoubtedly followed, was actually Jupiter and Saturn in conjunction. The star in the East is the morning star. It is the first gleam, the first dawning of the Christ Truth. In the Bible and elsewhere, as we have observed earlier, the east always stands for spirit, for truth. The Wise Men saw the star in the east and they followed it, and it brought them to the Christ child. They had been seeking God, and one always finds what he seeks.
After the child was born, he was taken to the temple in accordance with the laws and the rules of the time. When your are trying to live the spiritual life you must meet the rules and regulations of ordinary life. You cannot be on the spiritual path unless you are a good citizen, a good parent, child, husband, wife, brother, or sister.
What did Jesus think of Christmas? What did he think of his birth on earth? I am sure most of us have asked ourselves the same question about ourselves. Why were we born? Why are we here? What does life mean? The whole of Jesus' life is the answer to these questions so far as he was concerned, and these answers form many dramatic diagrams for living.
When Jesus was brought before Pilate, he was questioned concerning his activities and assertions. He answered, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." And Pilate asked, "What is truth?" It is a good question. The search for Truth is unending, not merely by ecclesiastics, philosophers and scholars, but by scientists too. Every time something "new" is discovered, another facet of Truth has been uncovered, another milestone on the road to Truth as God Himself. All other truth is relative to that. Jesus came to bear witness to the Truth of God, and he spent his life demonstrating the power available to those who link their minds with that Truth.
Jesus did not have to come to earth at all. Unlike the rest of us, he chose to come back in order to do a great work for humanity, and therefore he is rightly called the savior of the world. Our spiritual and physical emancipation would have been much slower in coming had it not been for the work, which Jesus did in and to the race mind.
In order to help us Jesus had to become one of us, he had to be born of a woman and come back into the human race. Nothing can be helped from the outside. Even God does not help us from the outside. How does God heal us? How does God set us free from sin? How does he forgive us? Not from the outside, but by working in us, changing our consciousness. When the inner is changed, the outer change follows in accordance with that inner change.
Nothing can be saved from the outside and nothing can be destroyed from the outside. No country was ever destroyed from the outside. The Roman Empire was not destroyed by the barbarians; they only came in and took the loot. The Roman Empire was destroyed by deterioration within. Great institutions like great empires die from within. No church was ever destroyed by persecution. On the contrary, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." When a church dies, it dies from within.
We are told very little about Jesus' early life, but when he came on earth, he necessarily had to lose most of his advanced consciousness for the time being, to become a baby. A small baby cannot possibly have the consciousness of a man, much less the consciousness, which Jesus had before his incarnation. However, with Mary and Joseph as his earthly parents, he was brought up in the proper atmosphere and with the instruction that he needed. They were wise parents. In spite of their knowledge that he was a very special baby, they did not try to make a child genius out of him.
The first account of Jesus' youth was at age twelve, but his first awakening must have come around the age of seven, possibly a little earlier. The child would cease to be a baby. From then on there would be a continual unfoldment until at the age of puberty it dawned on him who he really was and why he had come. The Jews have their Bar Mitzvah and most of the Christian churches have some kind of confirmation--to correspond with that time when the child is deemed old enough to be responsible for his own spiritual life. So, one day when he was praying and meditating by himself, it suddenly dawned on the boy Jesus, and he remembered how he had planned this before his birth, how he had selected this work, and what lay ahead of him.
The first great opportunity came when his parents took him to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. He found himself discussing important philosophical and religious questions with the learned doctors and scholars in the temple. "And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." Jesus' parents were a day's journey toward home before they noticed that he was missing. Retracing their steps, it was three days before they found him in the temple. And while they were amazed at the understanding their child displayed, they treated him just as any parents would handle an ordinary child. "Son," asked his mother, "why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." And the account goes on to say that he returned to Nazareth with them, "and was subject unto them." Thus, in spite of his advanced understanding, he continued to be a well-disciplined child.
There has been much speculation about the hidden years of Jesus' life, the time between his first appearance in the temple and the beginning of his public work, a period of some eighteen years. The simple fact is that this time was spent in preparation. No great work is done without adequate preparation, and for the kind of work Jesus had come to do, much time and study was needed as well as hours and days spent in prayer and mediation. Jesus never felt he was too advanced to pray. There are those who get a smattering of the metaphysical teaching and feel if they make a couple of affirmations and the demonstration is not immediately forthcoming, they are ready to chuck the whole business. Not Jesus. Even after he began his public work, he was always praying.
So, Jesus got the instruction he needed. He obviously had a greater depth than the teachers, but the good teacher can help the student to realize, control, and express his capacities. A good voice teacher can train a prima donna, though he may never have achieved fame as a singer himself. So there were people to teach Jesus. He traveled, became familiar with the great religions of his day, and began his public work when he was about thirty. He worked for three years, and then went away.
Jesus had great prophetic vision. He foresaw the present Aquarian Age and made indirect mention of it when his disciples were making preparation for that final Passover which had become the Last Supper. He told them to follow the man with the water pot and the man with the water pot, the gardener, is the symbol of this Age. Jesus knew beforehand about what would take place around the crucifixion but not in detail. It turned out to be more difficult than he had expected, and he called upon Peter, James, and John to help him. He was not infallible. And then he thought that the end of matter and limitation would come much sooner than was to be the case. But in spite of these seeming shortcomings, he was the greatest being that has come to earth up to now.
Jesus came to teach compassion and love of one another. Jesus taught the higher metaphysics and the higher spirituality, and its cornerstone was compassion and love. Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." When someone came to him and said, "Lord, we love you," he smiled and replied, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." If we keep his commandments, that is, if we follow his teaching and live the life, then are we his disciples. If we love one another in thought, word, and deed, then are we on our way to the manger, and the Star of the East is going ahead of us to show the way.
This is the story of the Christmas child. But how wrong it would be to think that the story ended two thousand years ago when Jesus dematerialized in what we call the Ascension. The truth is that the thing is going on all the time and that God means it for everyone. Jesus taught that there might be a Christ child born in every soul. "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many." God has no preferences. There are no reserved seats in heaven. We are all the same in His sight. We all have the same power and the same capacity. No outer ceremony makes any difference. No organization or power has any corner on this. It is your heart and the level of your consciousness that determines all.
If you keep your heart as the shepherds did, you will begin to know things that you cannot find in a book or a sermon. You will hear the heavenly choir, and the Christ child will be born and you will be there to receive it. After that, "Nothing can by any means hurt you."
Emmet Fox from: Diagrams For Living.
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Thanksgiving
Posted on: 11/03/2007
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"Thanksgiving Day is a purely American Festival. It dates back to the early
settlers who gave thanks for the bountiful crops that meant health and
well-being during the coming winter. And so down through the years a day has
always been set aside so that Americans of all faiths might acknowledge to God
the many blessings they have received. Now, no one needs to wait for
Thanksgiving Day to give thanks to God. Indeed, we should make praise and
thanksgiving a regular part of our prayers. You will remember that Jesus said,
"What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and
ye shall have them." It is quite obvious from this, that if you really believe
that you shall receive them, then you should not only give thanks after your
good is at hand, but you should constantly show your faith in God by giving
thanks for the blessings you expect to receive. Indeed, this is the royal road
to demonstration, because we are not only confirming to ourselves our complete
faith in the power and goodness of God, but we are acknowledging the receipt of
that good from the Giver of all perfect gifts, God Himself. With praise and
thanksgiving all obstacles can be overcome. Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay
thy vows unto the Most High (Psalm 50:14)." Written by - Emmet Fox
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Count Your Blessings
Posted on: 11/01/2007
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"When the year is nearing its close, it is a good time for us to take stock
of the blessings we have received during the year. As we look back over the
year, we can see that there were many a blessing "in disguise" which we would
have recognized at the time had we gotten behind the appearance to the reality
of God. Now, in taking stock of your demonstrations, do not rehash old
difficulties, problems, and grievances. Remember this is to be an inventory of
the good you have received, not a rehearsal of past mistakes. Then, when you
have counted your blessings, if you feel that you could have done better, take
it a step further. In the commercial filed, a firm takes an inventory not only
to find out what goods it has on hand, but also to see if it cannot improve its
business through more judicious merchandising. Likewise in your spiritual
inventory, you should use it as a basis for making further progress. You can
take a step forward by asking yourself: 1. When a problem arises do I "Golden
Key" the situation by seeing God where the trouble seems to be? 2. Have I gotten
rid of anger, fear and resentment? 3. Have I forgiven everyone whom I think has
injured me? Jesus made this one of the cardinal points in the great Lord's
Prayer. We are to ask God to forgive us as we have forgiven others. If you put
these things into practice, then next year at this time your spiritual inventory
will reflect the differences, for there will be many more blessings to count. "
Emmet Fox
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July 10
Posted on: 07/10/2007
RECIPROCAL JUDGMENT
Read Matthew 7:1-5.
These few verses consist of only about one hundred words, and yet it is hardly too much to say that at their simple face value they comprise the most staggering document ever presented to mankind. In these five verses we are told more about the nature of man and the meaning of life, and the importance of conduct, and the art of living, and the secret of happiness and success, and the way out of trouble, and the approach to God, and the emancipation of the soul, and the salvation of the world, than all the philosophers and theologians and the savants put together have told us--for it explains the Great Law. "Burn the rest of the books, for it is all in this one," would hold in reference to those words.
People are very apt to think, especially when they are strongly tempted, that they can probably escape the clutches of authority in some other way. If, however, they understood that the law of retribution is a cosmic law, impersonal and unchanging as the law of gravity, they would think twice before they treated other people unjustly.The law of gravity is never off duty, and no one would ever dream of trying to evade it, or coax it, or bribe it, or intimidate it. People accept it as being inevitable and shape their conduct accordingly--and the law of retribution is even as the law of gravity.
You may like or dislike the law, and if you wish, you may try to ignore it; but you cannot deny that Jesus Christ taught it, and in the most direct and emphatic way when he said:
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged (Matthew 7:1-2).
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July 9
Posted on: 07/09/2007
SELF~CONDEMNATION KEEPS US BACK
People who are honestly trying to follow the spiritual life often make the mistake of being to hard on themselves. Because they do not seem to be progressing as fast as they would naturally like, or they find themselves repeating some of faults that they thought they had completely overcome, they feel discouraged, and condemn themselves mercilessly.
All this is foolish. If you are doing your best to use what Truth you know, at present, you are doing all that you have a right to expect of yourself.
Don't be impatient with yourself--but this does not mean that you are to be lazy or complacent. Handle yourself like a wise parent handles an obstreperous child--kindly, patiently, but with gentle firmness, not expecting too much too quickly, but foreseeing inevitable growth and improvement.
. . . and all of you are children of the most high (Psalm 82:6).
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July 8
Posted on: 07/08/2007
A THRILLING EXPERIMENT
Why not make the following experiment, which will not only be thrillingly interesting, but will certainly teach you more in one day than you could learn from books or lectures for many weeks.
Here is what you have to do. For one whole day think, speak, and act exactly as you would if you were absolutely convinced of the truth of the statements that God has all power and infinite intelligence, and his nature is infinite goodness and love.
To think in this manner all day will be the most difficult thing, because thought is so subtle. To speak in accordance with these truths will be easier, if you are vigilant. To act in accordance with them will be the easiest part, although it may require much in the way of moral courage.
And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform (Romans 4:21).
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July 7
Posted on: 07/07/2007
HOW TO GET A DEMONSTRATION
Here is one way of solving a problem by scientific prayer.
Get by yourself and be quiet for a few moments. Do not strain to think rightly or to find the right thoughts, but just be quiet. Remind yourself that the Bible says "Be still, and know that I am God."
Then begin to think about God. Remind yourself of some of the things that you know about Him--that He is present everywhere, that He knows you and loves you and cares about you. Read a few verses of the Bible, or a paragraph from any spiritual book that helps you.
During this state it is important not to think about your problem, but to give your attention to God. In other words, do not try to solve your problem directly (which would be using will power) but become interested in thinking about the nature of God.
Next claim the thing that you need. Claim it quietly and confidently, as you would ask for something which you are entitled. Then give thanks for the accomplished fact as if you would if somebody handed you a gift. Jesus said when you pray, believe that you receive and you shall receive.
In quietness and confidence shall be you strength . . . (Isaiah 30:15).
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July 6
Posted on: 07/06/2007
SELF ~ANALYSIS
Jesus has told us that we always demonstrate our consciousness. We always demonstrate what we habitually have in our mind. What sort of mind have you? Do not let anyone else tell you, because they do not know. People who like you will think your mentality is better than it is; and people who do not like you will think it is worse. Just examine your conditions and see what you are demonstrating. This method is scientific and infallible.
If an automobile engineer is working out a new design for an engine, for instance, he doesn't say: "I wonder what Smith thinks about this. I like Smith. If Smith is against this I won't try it." Nor does he say: "I won't try this idea because it comes from France." He is impersonal and unemotional about it. He says, "I will test it out, and decide by the results I obtain." All that anyone can do for you is to help you change your thought. You yourself must keep it changed. No one else can think for you. "No man can save his brother's soul or pay his brother's debt."
. . . and I will put a new spirit within you . . . (Ezekiel 11:19).
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July 5
Posted on: 07/05/2007
AN INEXHAUSTIBLE SUPPLY
As far as God is concerned, there is no check of any kind upon the amount of divine energy that we can appropriate, or, therefore, upon the things that we can do or be. Yet, for practical purposes, you can draw from the inexhaustible Source only in accordance with the measure of your understanding, just as you can draw water from the Atlantic ocean only in accordance with the size of vessel that you use. Almost everyone is foolishly content to fill his pitcher, small as it may be, to somewhere very short of the top.
The true measure of God's working is illustrated by a simple anecdote. A certain man was working in his garden, assisted by his little girl who had undertaken the task of watering the lawn by means of the usual rubber hose. Suddenly she cried out: "Daddy, the water has stopped." The father looked over, an, taking in the situation quietly, said, "Well, take your foot off the hose."
The ultimate cause of all our troubles is just this. Behind all secondary and proximate causes lies the same primary mistake. We have be pressing our feet and the entire weight of our mentality upon the pipe line of life, and then complaining because the water does not flow.
And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought . . . and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fall not (Isaiah 58:11).
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The 4th of July
Posted on: 07/04/2007
YOUR OWN PLACE
If you say that you are unhappy, dissatisfied, perhaps ill or impoverished, a failure, this is just another way of putting the fact that you're not allowing the will of God to have free play in your life--you are not doing the thing that He meant you to do.
Discontent is not necessarily a bad thing. It is your duty to be discontented with anything less than complete harmony and happiness. A wholesome discontent with dullness, failure, and frustration is your incentive for overcoming such things. Whoever you are, your true place is calling, and, because you really are a spark of the Divine, you will never be content until you answer.
Remember that this call is the call of God, and when God calls you to His Service, He pays all the expenses. Whatever you may require to answer the call--all will He furnish, if you be about His business and not your own.
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain (John 15:16).
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July 3
Posted on: 07/03/2007
YOUR HEART'S DESIRE
An old adage says: "God has a plan for every man, and He has one for you." Your real problem--the only problem you have--is to find your true calling in life. Everything else will fall into place. You will be happy; and upon happiness, health will follow. You will have all the supply that you will require to meet your needs, and this means that you will have perfect freedom; for poverty and freedom cannot go together.
God has not made you without a definite purpose in view. The Universe is a universe; that is, it is a unified harmony, a divine scheme. It count not happen, therefore, that God could create a spiritual entity such as you are, without having a special purpose in view, a special place for you. Whatever that place may be, there can be only one person who can fill it perfectly.
But, how is one to find his true place in life? Is there any means whereby you may discover what it really is that God wishes you to do? The answer is divinely simple--already from time to time, God Himself has whispered into your heart just that very wonderful thing, nothing less than what is called your heart's desire. The most secret wish that lies at the bottom of your heart, that is just the very thing that God is wishing for you to do or to be for Him. And the birth of that wish in your soul was the voice of God Himself telling you to arise and come up higher because He had need of you.
Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Psalm 37:4).
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July 2
Posted on: 07/02/2007
FIND MATURITY
Why do you not remember your previous lives? Consider how prone people are to worry and grieve foolishly over the past events of this one life, and imagine their state if they had the material of many lives to handle in this way.
And so the past is mercifully withheld from us until we reach the stage when we can regard our own histories impersonally and objectively, and when we do reach that stage it is possible to remember our previous lives.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting,
The soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere it's setting,
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter darkness,
But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
From God who is our home.
~Wordsworth
Is it absolutely necessary to come back? The answer is that you need not come back if you will concentrate you whole heart upon God, and seek his presence until you realize it completely. If you can do this, of all tasks the most difficult, then you will leave this earth planet to enter into full communion with God, and you need never to come back. Hardly anyone, however, is able to do this at present, and so we have to go on by stages, learning from experience, study, prayer, and meditation; living life after life until we "grow up" spiritually.
. . . I trust in the mercy of the Lord forever and ever (Psalms 52:8).
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July 1
Posted on: 07/01/2007
KARMA
Just as like attracts like, so like produces like. This is a cosmic law, which means that it is universally true throughout the whole of existence right up through the higher planes. As Jesus put it, you do not gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles; and he also said,
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit . . . (Matthew 7:17(.
So it is with our thoughts and words and deeds. As we sow so shall we reap, sometimes almost immediately, sometimes after a long interval. But always sooner or later like produces like.
Reincarnation also explains the differences in talents that we find between one man and another. The born musician is a man who studied music in another life, perhaps in several lives, and has therefore built that faculty into his soul. He is a talented musician today because he is reaping what he sowed yesterday. In the East this law of sowing and reaping is know as karma and the term is a convenient one.
Note carefully, however, that karma is not punishment. If you touch a red hot stove, you will burn your fingers. This will hurt you, but it is not punishment, only a benign and reformative consequence, for after one or two such experiences in childhood, you learn to keep your hands away from hot iron. So it is with all natural retribution--you suffer because you have a lesson to learn.
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June 30
Posted on: 06/30/2007
OUR LONG SCHOOLING
Why is reincarnation necessary? Why do we come back for short excursions of perhaps seventy or eighty years instead of, let us say, living one very long lifetime of perhaps a thousand or even several thousand years?
The explanation lies in man's reluctance to adopt new ideas and adapt himself to changing conditions. In each new experience, however, he wants to do things in new ways; then as the years of his maturity go by, the strong race suggestions all around him gradually get their way. He begins to acquire vested interest (mentally) in the status quo. The only remedy, when crystallization sets in, is to remove him from the earth plane altogether; send him to the etheric planes for rest, reflection, assimilation, and general readjustment; and then bring him back once more as a baby, to experience a new youth and a new period of true spiritual production.
There are other reasons multiple lives are necessary. You need to develop every side of your character. You need to learn lessons of discipline and self-restraint, and you need to learn to use authority in the right way. You need to learn the lesson of getting on with other people, and you must also learn to be alone. You must learn to bear failure and disappointment with fortitude and you must learn to stand success without allowing your head to be turned. You have to learn both patience and the lesson of enterprise and adventure. Above all, you have to move about in time and space so that you may learn that nothing God made is really foreign or separate--and this could not be done in one lifetime.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ (Galatians 3:24).
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June 29
Posted on: 06/29/2007
INEVITABLE RECKONING
When you understand that this present life is only one day in your long life,and that at the change called death you simply disappear into the next plane, to come back again later on--perhaps several hundred years later--then the events of this particular life appear in their true proportion, and then you begin to have dominion. The events of this life will not appear less important because of your new knowledge, but they will no longer intimidate you, because you will know that you can control them. No seeming misfortune will any longer have power to break your heart or weaken your courage. You will understand life as the wondrous opportunity and glorious gift that it is.
It is true that when you return you have to meet the same types of problems but the conditions will be utterly different. Also, you will probably meet some of present associates again, particularly if there is an emotional link of either love or hatred between you. Love will take care of itself;but you must get all hatred out of your heart, if you do not want to renew disagreeable contacts.
A thorough understanding of this doctrine makes us more tolerant. It leads us to do everything we can to make the path of others easier so as to facilitate their personal evolution and that of the race. In our own lives we face up to the difficulties courageously, knowing that to run away is to postpone the day of reckoning.
. . . all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto everyone of you according to your works (Revelations 2:23).
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June 28
Posted on: 06/27/2007
REINCARNATION
Have you ever asked yourself why there should be such a difference between one human lot and another? Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be so happy and fortunate in their lives, while others appear to undergo so much undeserved suffering? To the honest and fearless soul, the problem of the inequality of human lives is one that clamors for solution.
Men and women are not born free and equal. They are created free and equal, but they are not born free and equal. They start this life like horses in a handicap race--no two bearing an equal burden. Now why should this be, if indeed God is Love, and if God is just, and if God is all-powerful?
The answer is that this life that you are living today is not the only life, and that it cannot be understood or judged by itself. You have lived before, in different ages and in different civilizations. Some of those who are at the bottom of the social ladder today have walked the earth as kings, and generals, and high priests; and some who sit in the seats of the mighty have toiled as peasants, or worn the chains of slaves. And you, yourself, in future ages, will very likely return to this earth planet and live out another life. The conditions under which you start that life will be the outcome of the lives you have already lived; but most particularly will they be the outcome of the life you are living at present. What is customarily called a lifetime is really but a comparatively brief day in a long, long life, and the circumstances into which you were born are the natural outcome of the way in which you have lived and comported yourself in your former lives. You are reaping today the results of the seeds that you have sown during these many previous lives.
. . . He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6).
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June 27
Posted on: 06/27/2007
ALL GOD'S UNIVERSE
What is nature? What we call nature is a small part of God's universe that we are able to see at the present time, and much of which we see awry. All the wonderful things that are going on in the woods, all the marvelous happenings that take place in the depths of the ocean, the whole sublime story of the heavens, are all part of God's self-expression. Above all, our own bodies themselves are part of nature, perhaps the most wonderful part of all; and probably the part of which we ourselves know least.
But ask now the beast, and they shall teach thee; and the foul of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind . . . With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding (Job 12:7-10, 13).
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June 26
Posted on: 06/26/2007
THERE IS NO DEATH
RESURGAM
There is no death!The stars go down
To rise upon some other shore,
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown
They shine for evermore.
Time is no death! The dust we tread
Shall change beneath the summer showers
To golden grain, or mellow fruit
Or rainbow-tinted flowers.
And ever near us, though unseen,
The dear immortal spirits tread;
For all the boundless universe
Is life--there are no dead!
-John Luckey McCreery,
"There Is No Death"
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? . . . But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57).
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June 25
Posted on: 06/25/2007
THIS WORLD IS A SCHOOL
Pass a test in spiritual understanding, and never again throughout eternity will that particular task have to be done again. Your attitude should be:
I am going to live forever; in a thousand years from now I shall still be alive and active somewhere; in a hundred thousand years still alive and active somewhere; and so the events of today have only the importance that belongs to today. I greet the unknown with a cheer, and press forward joyously, exulting in the great adventure.
Armed with this philosophy, and really understanding its power, you have nothing to fear in life or death--because God is All, and God is Good.
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus . . .make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight . . . (Hebrews 13:20-21).
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June 24
Posted on: 06/24/2007
COMMUNICATION WITH THE "DEAD"
Is it possible to communicate with those who have passed on into the next world? Extremist on one side say dogmatically say that it is absolutely impossible to do so. Enthusiast on the other side claim that their deceased friends direct their actions. The truth is that communication does take place, but that the wise dead understand the necessity of our exercising our own power of choice and do not intrude. But they do often come to our aid.
If you wish to investigate psychic things, do so thoroughly and scientifically. The chief objection to the running after mediums is that it may become a running away from the responsibilities of this life. Thus seeking mediums becomes what is called in psychology an escape mechanism. Your business is to face up to your problems and try to solve them.
There is a truly spiritual mode of communication from which nothing but good can come. It is this: Sit down quietly and remind yourself that the one God really is Omnipresent. Then reflect that your real self is in the Presence of God now, and that the real self of your loved one is also in the Presence of God. Do this for a few minutes every day, and sooner or later you will get a sense of communication.
For to this end Christ both died, and rose . . . that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living (Romans 14:9).
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June 23
Posted on: 06/23/2007
SELF~DESTRUCTION
Some thought should be given to the fate of those who commit suicide. The majority of those who take their own lives are so terrorized at the time that they are not entirely responsible for the ac. Such people fare on the other side like anyone else. Conscious and intentional self-destruction is a refusal to meet the problems of life, and obviously it cannot be possible to do that successfully. These persons are apt to find themselves in a confused mental state. Of course, they can be greatly helped by prayer, as can all others. Ultimately they have to face all over again precisely the kind of problem they have run away from.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust (Psalm 103:13-14).
. . . the goodness of God endureth . . . (Psalm 51:1).
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June 22
Posted on: 06/22/2007
THE LINK OF LOVE
Will you meet your relatives and friends when you go over?Where there is a strong emotional link either of love or hatred there is likely to be a meeting. Where there is a strong link of genuine love there is sure to be a meeting. Where there is no particular feeling between two people there will not be a meeting. There is a real danger that if you allow yourself to indulge in hatred of anyone, you will meet when you both have passed over. To prevent this happening, destroy the link by ceasing the hatred.
The so-called dead are very sensitive to our thoughts, and for this reason excessive grief is to be deprecated. It saddens them and prevents their focusing their attention as they should on the new life that they are starting. Of course, it seems very hard to tell people not to grieve when one whom they have dearly loved passes out of sight, but remember that if there is a link of love you will certainly meet again, and that nothing that is good, or beautiful, or true, can ever be lost.
We can pray for those who have passed on, and indeed it is our sacred duty to do so. The practice was generally discontinued after the reformation because it had been greatly abused and commercialize, but, nevertheless, it is an excellent practice in itself. Realize peace of mind, freedom, and understanding for them.
In my Father's house there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:2).
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June 21
Posted on: 06/21/2007
LIFE AFTER DEATH
Perhaps the most startling change that the discarnate has to meet is the fact that thought is the normal means of communication, and therefore there is no deception. You pass for what you are and that is the end of the matter.
What is it that determines what kind of place you will go after death and the sort of people among whom you will find yourself? You will go to the sort of place and be among the sort of people for whom you have prepared yourself by your habitual thinking and your mode of living while on this earth. Remember that death makes positively no change in you; you are just the same person you were before it happened. No one "sends" you anywhere. You naturally gravitate to the place you belong.
You do not "meet God" on the next plane any more than you do on this plane. Of course, He is fully present on the next plane just as He is on this plane; but there as here, He is to be contacted only in one's own consciousness. Heaven is that perfect state of consciousness in which one is in full realization of the divine Presence. If you can reach to that level of consciousness while still in this world (and a few have succeeded in doing so), you are in Heaven now and your awareness of God will be intensified after death.
However, there are some very unpleasant localities in the next world and people whose minds are chiefly given up to hatred, deceit, or sensuality, will find themselves in such places. These are the places referred to as "hell."
Consider the man or woman who lives wholly for the body and is dominated by it. Physical cravings, being part of the mentality, are, of course, carried over to the next plane, but there there is no physical body through which these appetites may be satisfied, and so the victim is tormented by desire but unable to satisfy it, until, in the course of time, fade out by starvation. This is the natural punishment for allowing the physical body to assume control, and surely it is punishment enough.
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1).
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