Dominion And Power E-Book

Charles Brodie Patterson

• Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 319

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

This little book is written with the fervent desire, on the part of the writer, to throw some light on the way of life; or perhaps better still, to call into conscious existence latent powers of being that are resident in the soul of ''every man that cometh into the world."If it fulfils this object to one or to many souls, it has accomplished its mission. If it tends to make the burdens of life lighter by bringing new joy or hope into any life, it will more than repay the author for the time and labor expended in writing it.

Leseprobe

Dominion And Power

The Science Of Life And Living

Charles Brodie Patterson

Contents:

Dominion And Power

Preface

Part I

I - Three Planes Of Development

Ii - Good And Evil

Iii - Elements In Character-Building

Iv - Breath Control

V - Dependence And Independence.

Vi - Psychic Development

Vii - Self-Expression

Viii - Prayer And Its Fulfillment

Ix - Immortality

X - True Dominion

Part Ii

I - Practical Idealism

Ii - Success

Iii - Friendship

Iv - The Equality Of The Sexes

V - Marriage

Vi - The Rights Of Children

Vii - The Truth That Makes Free

Viii - The World Beautiful

Ix - The Religion Of Life

X - The Realization Of Power

Dominion And Power, C. B. Patterson

Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck

86450 Altenmünster, Loschberg 9

Germany

ISBN: 9783849627126

www.jazzybee-verlag.de

www.facebook.com/jazzybeeverlag

[email protected]

Cover Design: © James Steidl - Fotolia.com

DOMINION AND POWER

PREFACE

The prayer of the world to-day is for "light, more light." The mind of man is reaching out for a more comprehensive knowledge of the laws which regulate and control life.

There is a wave of spiritual thought and feeling that is extending to the uttermost parts of the earth. While the ancient faiths are passing away, and man no longer accepts his religion because of the authority of any book or dogmatic creed, yet there is a new authority coming into life, such as the world has never known save in rare instances.

The authority is the realized presence of God in the individual life of man. Where one feels with the heart, and knows with the mind, and is not in any way dependent upon any or all authority, the way of life is illumined by the light within. The kingdom of God is found as a conscious reality in the soul of man, and the individual soul becomes conscious of both dominion and power and rules its own kingdom.

This little book is written with the fervent desire, on the part of the writer, to throw some light on the way of life; or perhaps better still, to call into conscious existence latent powers of being that are resident in the soul of ''every man that cometh into the world."If it fulfils this object to one or to many souls, it has accomplished its mission. If it tends to make the burdens of life lighter by bringing new joy or hope into any life, it will more than repay the author for the time and labor expended in writing it.

Faithfully yours,

Charles Brodie Patterson.

PART I

I - THREE PLANES OF DEVELOPMENT

"The glorious creature laughed out even in sleep!

But when full roused, each giant limb awake,

Each sinew strung, the great heart pulsing fast,

He shall start up and stand on his own earth;

Then shall his long triumphant march begin;

Thence shall his being date; — thus wholly roused.

What he achieves shall be set down to him.

When all the race is perfected alike

As man, that is; all tended to mankind.

And, man produced, all has its end thus far;

But in completed man begins anew

A tendency to God."—Browning.

While the law of evolution, as explained by its discoverers, tends to clear up and make plain many phases and conditions of things hitherto unexplainable, there are yet numberless things shrouded in mystery.

If we accept the law of the survival of the fittest as conclusive, we must consider Nature as being in one sense thoroughly heartless; that is, that natural law decrees the destruction of all that is weak and the preservation of all that is strong. Yet for countless ages there has been a constructive work going on, having for its aim the perfecting of a habitation for living creatures, beginning with the tiniest conceivable — each habitation becoming ever more complex and complete; hence, what we see in the phenomena of growth is not the destruction of life at all; it is the destruction of imperfect form, in order that the inner living entity may begin anew the construction of a more ideal body. This process continues until each form is complete and perfect, when a new type is evolved, because there is mind-action in even the very lowest forms of life. When nourishment is required there is intelligence enough to draw, or to cause the entity to reach out after, the needed sustenance; and if Nature has not provided the means of locomotion, the latent powers of the creature are then forced into activity. I believe the time is near when the scientific world will perceive that the law of evolution is not sufficient in itself to explain the why and wherefore of life in its varying conditions and forms, and that the so-called law of natural selection will have to be discarded and another substituted that will not work injury to the law of evolution, but explain it more fully: a law that will take into account a supreme Intelligence seeking manifestation through a multiplicity of ideals; a law that will demonstrate that the ideal is always first and the expression of it last. The law of evolution deals with effects, at no point entering the realm of causation. The higher law, of which evolution is but the outer expression, will only be understood when we go to the fountain-head of things — when we seek knowledge of causes.

Knowledge coming to us in this way will give the real key with which to unlock the secrets of the external world. The one who would know must begin with causes, and through them explain effects; the law of involution first, the law of evolution last; the Immanent God, the Indwelling Spirit, the Ideal seeking expression. When John the Baptist said, "God can raise up of these stones children unto Abraham, "he did not mean an external power, but an infinite and eternal Energy pulsating even in the very stones. This is not a dead universe, but one that throbs with life from the very heart to the circumference. The universe lives and moves and has its being in God.

Our knowledge of earth-life is not eternal knowledge. It pertains to temporal things. Through its right application, however, we are enabled to develop the knowledge that is latent within each of us. This is not accumulated wisdom, but rather the potentialities of soul and mind. The enduring qualities of human life pertain to the soul.

In the first place, let us consider the ideal man as a spiritual being, animated by the spirit of God, controlled and directed by a divine intelligence — the microcosm, the very image and likeness of God — in whose life is contained an infinity of possibilities reaching from the lowest earthly conditions to a realization of oneness with God; from conditions wherein sin, sorrow and sickness weigh down and burden the life to that absolute sonship wherein the soul triumphant has dominion and power over all things. We may not postulate the ''birth" of the soul, but we can trace its history through its earthly pilgrimage.

Although the spiritual man is first in reality, yet, when we come to deal with man from the phenomenal or the evolutionary point of view, we must necessarily begin with the physical or animal man — the animal that is more subtle than any beast of the field, because this man is in reality the summing up of the whole animal kingdom. He is also the epitome of all the intelligence that controls and directs the animal kingdom.

Every characteristic found in any of the lower kingdoms can be found in man, so that when man looks out on the visible world about him he is looking on a picture of what he is, or what he has been; there is absolutely nothing that has not its correspondence in his own conscious life.

In the purely physical stage of development, man to a very great degree is governed by the same law that controls and directs the life of the animal. If he conforms to the law of this lower plane, he is comparatively well and happy. It is not as yet essential to his well-being that he have conceptions as to his relations to God and humanity. Moderation and temperance are, however, qualities necessary for his physical health. If whatever mind he has developed is comparatively free from the passions of anger, hatred, and strife — if the life is in a state of control, so far as it has developed — it makes no difference whether religious ideas have as yet found place in his mind. Obedience to this law of moderation in all things brings health and happiness as a natural result. The requirements for this plane of development being so few and simple, more people are found here well and strong than on the higher and more complex planes. From him to whom little is given, little is required.

At this stage of life, instinct (it can hardly be called intuition) is the guiding factor rather than thought or reason. But even at this early period in man's life a higher consciousness is demanding recognition. There is something pressing from the center of his being that can not and will not be ignored. Dim though it may be at first, as time goes on it becomes more and more a controlling and directing force. Instinct gives way to thought and reason, and man enters the second plane in his evolution. A new world is opened to his vision, and the work of reconstruction is begun. I would not be understood as saying that any marked change takes place at any given moment, because in all probability the change is a gradual one. It may be like the bud that has been swelling for days, or even weeks, when, lo ! in the twinkling of an eye the blossom is unfolded. Doubtless there is a time when man first realizes the consciousness of a thinking, reasoning power as something distinct from and even superior to the sensuous animal life. He now finds himself between two planes of existence. The things that appeal to him from the purely physical side and the appeal that comes to him from his dawning intellectual powers cause a conflict that never ceases until the spiritual supremacy in life is attained.

It is really at this stage that a distinct sense of what is termed good and evil enters man's consciousness. In the light of the new development, desires and habits acquired on the lower plane are looked upon as hindrances to intellectual progress. The struggle between living a new life and dying to the old one has begun, because life on this phenomenal plane of existence is one of constant change; the things that we live and believe to-day pass away, and behold! on the morrow a new order — for men "mount on stepping-stones of their dead selves to higher things."Not that the old has been evil, but with the coming of the new there is a larger interpretation; new ideals enter the mind, and failure to live up to these higher ideals constitutes sin, or lack of conformity to one's knowledge of law and order. Every new and larger ideal of life brings with it increased responsibilities, and the failure to meet these responsibilities brings about a state of mental unrest and dissatisfaction which in turn finds expression in the physical organism — first producing weakness, then disease.

We must regard man as a unit. The soul is not separate or distinct from mind, for mind is its offspring — the something wherewith it becomes related to the phenomenal universe, as the body is, in turn, related to mind. What the mind thinks the body becomes, and when the mind thinks its noblest and truest thoughts of life the body responds by giving external expression to those thoughts. Mind is related to life in two ways; we might say that it stands between the phenomenal universe on the one hand and the unseen world of causes on the other. In the first stages of its development it turns almost exclusively to the outer, believing that reality is to be found there, as well as everything needful to satisfy its life, having as yet little if any knowledge of the spiritual force or power that gave it being. We now have what might be termed the carnal mind, or the mind not yet illumined by the indwelling spirit. We can not look to the purely spiritual side of life from the animal plane, and account for success or failure from that point of view; but we must go right to the physical — to man's sense-nature — to find the determining point. Take two individuals, then, in whom the sense-nature is equally developed, and who possess a perfect development of the animal functions. We find in one case a degree of moderation — that is, a certain amount of temperance in the use of material things — which is missing in the other. Again, we find that one has a degree of perseverance that is not possessed by the other. The purely animal quality known as instinct is not a much higher attribute when manifested by man; but when man accepts the guidance of his instinct he is led into the right course of action. When a man tries to do a thing, and persists in the effort even after repeated failures, his success is inevitable. It may at first seem very difficult, yet his instinct forbids discouragement. On this plane of existence we find men who are most successful — who develop and express genuine power because they follow its true lines.

Even on the physical plane, therefore, we find that the man who uses both moderation and perseverance accomplishes more than the one who is lacking in either of these qualities. Little by little, the man who uses moderation in all he undertakes — who perseveres and keeps firmly in mind the thing he wishes to accomplish — is certain to succeed. Moreover, because of the concentration of his force, he is becoming strong mentally and physically, for mental strength is manifested in and through the physical. The other sort of man becomes weaker each day instead of stronger, and finally Nature abandons the attempt to utilize his powers in her economy. We say that a tree is cut down because it encumbers the ground. This means that the life that has come into existence has not used its intelligence to its fullest capacity; that it must go out of its physical form and later begin the work of construction anew. Some people are spiritually lazy, others are mentally lazy, and some are physically lazy. We can not feel strong nor equal to the duties to which we are assigned if we are victims of laziness — a condition that always results from failure to use power in the right way.

Let us examine the result of the right use of power on all three planes. We can trace the operation of the evolutionary principle in all forms of life, from the lowest creatures known to science up almost to the manifestations of divinity; hence, we should be able to discern the reasons why evolution should take place. We are born with certain appetites and desires; also with instincts and a degree of intelligence that knows how to use those qualities in the right way. Some people say that the sense-nature of man is not good, and that it must be overcome or repressed; others insist that the intellectual side of man's being is of no consequence — that the spiritual side alone is important. Yet the fact remains that every phase of man's life — from the lowest sense plane to the highest spiritual plane — is a vital factor of his being; but its beneficence is dependent upon its right use.

We know by instinct that it is essential to our growth that we should construct in one way or another. After a time, through this effort, comes the development of intellect, by which man has power to think and reason. The physical should always be subordinate to the intellectual; for to the degree that man is intemperate in the indulgence of his passions, his mental force is reduced.

Man knows that as he perseveres he succeeds. He knows also that, as he thinks clearly, concisely, and logically, he accomplishes his undertakings. Now, the mentally strong man will bring his force to bear on one thing at a time, not on many things at once. Thus will he become truly constructive.

Besides the virtues of concentration, moderation, and perseverance, there are certain moral and ethical questions that affect the problem of life, and only as man considers them in their true relations can he hope to generate the highest power. He knows that aside from all thought of spiritual development, his mind is at peace only when he feels and acts justly toward others. He is endowed with a sense of justice, and only as he expresses it is his mind strengthened; for if he cultivates the habit of injustice, in-harmony enters his mind and thus weakens his mental capabilities. Or, again, upon this plane of being he may be in danger, by an extreme cultivation of his mental faculties, to look upon his mind with its powers of thinking, reasoning and forming judgments as the highest attribute of his being. It is at this period in his life that he formulates creeds and becomes dogmatic in his religion. The thought of "justice" is a predominating one — but that justice is not always tempered with mercy. The most cruel things the world has ever known have not come from the man on the physical plane, but from the intellectually developed man, whose life was barren of love for humanity. Men who thought they were doing the will of God have perpetrated crimes, in the name of religious creeds, too fearful to contemplate. The intellectual plane of development is the great plane of unrest, of ceaseless activities. More mental and physical disturbances occur on this plane than on either the physical or spiritual planes. On this plane man's desires become multiplied and the mind is never satisfied. Each gratified desire brings another want to take its place. The accumulation of knowledge does not bring contentment; in fact, it becomes rather a burden. We may acquire all possible knowledge of the outer life and yet be deficient in wisdom, for wisdom and knowledge are not the same; but when they are combined the individual puts the knowledge he has to practical use. It is only through the right use of our knowledge that we become strong. When we utilize our possessions in the right way, greater possessions are acquired; thus do we learn the true secret of power. Many people think that if they half starve themselves, or if they live on certain kinds of food, or if they do or abstain from doing certain other things, they will bring about conditions that will tend to develop spirituality. But if one is right within he will do everything right without; that is to say, a man that is pure in heart will be clean and whole in body.

We need power on the physical plane; we need power on the intellectual plane, but most of all we need power on the spiritual plane, for when we consciously enter the realm of spirit, our old life-methods are entirely supplanted by the new. It is the spirit within us that contains the transforming power; the outer is but the instrument of the inner entity. Let us cease the useless effort to relate ourselves to the outer world — to people we think can aid us, or to things that we feel have benefited us — and let us seek that which shah, bring the real abundance of life. Everything of value is within the realm of spirit, and we can get therefrom whatever we wish. We must get mental and physical health in the right way — through the recognition and development of our soul qualities. The man who fully realizes that he is living and moving in God can never express disease, because he has passed from under the "law of sin and death"(the law we ourselves have made), and has now come under the law of the spirit of life, which gives freedom from all negative conditions and makes for health and power.

He has come to see the light that has been shining in the darkness: the light that is to enlighten every man that cometh into the world — that light which is a spark of the divine Presence in the life of man, which must eventually become a living flame. From the very center of being, the soul attributes of faith, hope and love are pushing outward, demanding recognition. These qualities can not be imaged in the mind; yet, beautifying and uplifting, they lend tone and color to every thought picture, until earthly things stand revealed in heavenly glory. This is the coming of the kingdom of God on earth — the transmutation of the self-will into the divine will, where man realizes his at-one-ment with God.

From the altitude of the spiritual plane, everything is seen in a new light; old things have passed away, and, behold ! all things have become new. The law of evolution has ceased to act, and the soul has become a law unto itself. The soul stands revealed as the image and likeness of its Creator; not a physical image, not a mental conception, but a spiritual consciousness endowed with divine faculties that shape reason, control thought, and perfect the physical organism. "For if the spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the spirit which dwelleth in you.''

It is only from this plane that man perceives the unity of life; that he realizes that all life is one; and that he ceases to resist what is termed the ''evil" of life and sets his face steadfastly toward the accomplishment of every undertaking through the power of good. He has risen above the turmoil and strife, so that while seeing them he is not affected by them; not that the heart has lost sympathy for the sorrow and distress existing on the other planes, but that a new consciousness has come which discloses the fact that all things work together for good. Sorrow and pain seem very real while one is passing through them: they are signals of distress showing a lack of adjustment, but they are not real or permanent conditions in the life of man. "The suffering of the present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

II - GOOD AND EVIL

"It was not strange

I saw no good in man.

To overbalance all the wear and waste

Of faculties, displayed in vain, but born

To prosper in some better sphere: and why?

In my own heart had not been made wise

To trace love's faint beginnings in mankind.

To know even hate is but a mask of love's.

To see a good in evil, and a hope

In ill success."— Browning.

"Nothing is foreign; parts relate to whole;

One all-extending, all-preserving Soul

Connects each being, greatest with the least;

Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast;

All served, all serving; nothing stands alone;

The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown.

Has God, thou fool! worked solely for thy good,

Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food?"— Pope.

At the very outset of life man is confronted by the greatest of all mysteries: the problem of good and evil. Within this problem is contained the solution of all the lesser questions of life that vex and perplex the mind. It is not only this problem that is the first thing to demand man's attention, but when he has solved it the world and the things of the world have lost their hold on him forever; for he has risen triumphant over sin and death; so that we might say that his solution is the Alpha and Omega of all the wisdom of the world.

In the first stages of man's life begins the personification of good and evil, and he has many gods. Whatever affects his life in a beneficial way becomes a god of good; whatever has harmful effects, becomes a god of evil.

In his worship of the gods of the good, the qualities corresponding to those he worships, come into a living existence in his own nature. In the same way the attributes with which he endows his gods of evil, find expression in his own life. He is thus constantly between two forces; one making for good and the other for evil; the one calling out for love and reverence, the other, hate and fear.

As he allows his mind to come under the sway of the one or the other, so his whole life is influenced and he becomes what his gods are. As his knowledge increases, the number of his gods decreases, until at last he has but two — a god of good and a god of evil; but his state is no better than before. The many personalities of the past have resolved themselves into the attributes of these two gods. At the very heart of man's life is the divine ideal which is eternally steadfast, which knows naught of anything save good. To some degree he is conscious of this; and instinctively he places the evil of life outside himself so, when he is guilty of any evil thing, he attributes it to the influence exerted over him by the god of evil. He shifts the weight of responsibility from his own shoulders, and the devil is made the scapegoat for his sins. When, however, he conforms to his higher ideals of good, he attributes this good to himself rather than to any external being.

The reason for these two conditions might be summed up as follows: There being no evil at the heart of life, it follows that evil must be external to the life; therefore, the responsibility of evil-doing must be placed elsewhere. But the sense of good being an innate quality of the life does not require any external being to account for it. Evil does not reach further back than the imaging faculty of the mind of man, and it comes from man's failure to comprehend the true relation of things in life; it comes from man's inability to grasp the unity of life; it comes from partial vision and undeveloped knowledge, wherein things are seen not as they are, but rather as they seem to be. There is a law of contradictions which governs the true knowledge that distinguishes between the real and the unreal; a law which eventually makes clear that "all is of God that is or is to be, and God is good."

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil shows us that the reality of good is only made evident to us through that which contradicts it — evil; that evil is not something in and of itself, but rather the dark background which brings out life's perfect picture; that it has only power as we believe in it and give it power; that it is the absence of light and of knowledge. Just as darkness is the absence of the light of the sun, so evil is the absence of the knowledge of the law of God, and exists, as darkness exists, not as a reality, but as an unreal something which shall pass away before the coming of the light of truth.

No matter at what point on the surface of life we start, no matter how evil a thing may seem to be, in the final analysis of the underlying thought or motive we find nothing but good. Good may be diverted into wrong channels, and so fail in positive expression. When the ideal is not perfectly expressed, as the law demands it shall be, the perverted good becomes apparent evil. Because of perfect law and order throughout the universe, any failure on the part of man to bring his life in accord with this law and order violates his intuitive recognition of the harmony necessary to his well-being, and results in a discordant condition which is termed evil. Let us hold clearly in mind this thought: Everything is good. Let us consider the universe as a perfect whole composed of many parts, each part having its perfect office. When, however, a part is made to do duty for other than that for which it was intended, the law is violated and an element of friction and discord is engendered, which constitutes what is termed evil. Some time it will be recognized that whatsoever man does which results in harmony and peace of mind is in reality the fulfilling of the law. It makes no difference one way or the other what the conventionally minded think, harmony is, after all, the key-note of existence.

In the life of man there is a constant process of development, each stage being perfect within its limitations, just as the unripened fruit is perfect in so far as it has developed. To the more highly developed mind, when there is knowledge of law and order, looking back on the stages below and failing to find knowledge equal to its own, it conceives such conditions as being wicked or evil.

Shakespeare uttered a great truth when he said there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so; and Paul a still greater one when he said he was persuaded that all things are good, but to him who thinketh a thing to be evil, to him it is evil. At every stage in the development of man, wherein there is lack of knowledge and conformity to law, such development is brought about through many and varied experiences and these cause sorrow of mind and pain of body. If man can not see and choose the higher way, there remains no other way for his purification save through the fire which burns out the dross of life. While passing through the experiences needful to the working out of his salvation, and failing to see the good, he looks upon his trials and sufferings as being evil.

There are no mistakes in God's plan; God did not make some people good and others evil, neither did He foreordain some to everlasting life and others to everlasting death. His perfect thought is wrapped up in every soul, and there is nothing that can nullify it.

Man is not good or bad; knowledge and right use of mental faculties tend to make him harmonious. Lack of knowledge and consequent disobedience of law result in discord so that the chords of life are not harmoniously played. But as with the musician, experience and practice make perfect. Whether a man is consciously and actively engaged in discovering and conforming to law and order, or whether his eyes are blinded to the light, the force of life pressing outward from the center brings with it unfoldment of innate qualities. Where consciousness of the truth of this exists the real joy of life comes through the knowing and the doing.

In our study of good and evil, we must approach it from still another standpoint; that is, that every inner ideal is seeking outward expression, and in this effort there is the resistance which one form of life offers to another. In the great economy of life up to a certain stage in the development of man resistance seems to be a necessary qualification to growth. When the resistance becomes too great, growth is thwarted; when there is little resistance there is comparatively little mental or physical development. An illustration of this may be found among the people who live in the frigid zone where the outer resistance is so great it becomes a struggle to maintain physical existence, and the sensibilities of the people are blunted, while in the torrid zone, where physical existence is so easily maintained, there Is a consequent sluggishness of mind and body. Only in the temperate zones do we find the more perfect development which comes from resistance being neither too great nor too little, showing us that between extremes man finds his point of balance. The balance on one plane differs from the balance on another.

The resistance and competition on a lower plane, when transferred to a higher plane, would no longer prove beneficial; so the law of resistance, as understood by the physically and intellectually developed, would make way for the law of non-existence, when man unfolds to a knowledge of his true relationship to God and man. One might ask. Does the law of God change? No: the law is eternal and unchanging, but man's perception of it changes. At one stage of life we are only able to perceive the most external manifestation of law, so that it seems to be physical in its inception and action. At another stage, thought and reason reach a still higher conclusion. Law here has its beginning in mind and its manifestation in the material; but in both cases there is failure to recognize the perfect law, for sin, sickness, and death continue to be real conditions rather than conditions which have an existence that passes away with the coming of the fuller knowledge of the law of the spirit of life which frees from sin and death.

In reality there is neither sin, sickness, nor death. God's law can neither be broken nor set aside, and when man knows this of a very truth then will come the real freedom of life. The belief in the personal self is one of the causes of much of the seeming evil of the world. The thought of personality separates man from God and from his fellow man, and personal existence and well-being become the leading motives of life. This condition generates selfishness and the many evils which flow from it. If we could know that there is no separation from God or man in all the great universe, that God is in all, that life is in all, that man is one with the Source of his being, that men are as closely related to one another as they are to God, that we are nothing apart from God, that one's neighbor is himself, the thought of personality would fade from our minds forever.

Selfishness is the greatest devil one has to contend with in life. It not only retards one's own progress but also stands in the way of the development of others; in that whatever one habitually feels or thinks is constantly acting upon the lives and minds of others, helping to generate similar conditions. The selfish thought and feeling can go out from one who indulges in it adding to the density of other minds who to some degree are living selfish lives. Our thoughts can become imps of darkness or angels of light — just as we choose to make them. False thoughts and false emotions engendered by selfishness are the seeds of sin and sorrow, disease and death. The one, however, who lives the unselfish life is through such living protecting himself from all adverse influence, for selfishness can no more enter the mental atmosphere of an unselfish person than darkness can come while the sun is shining. Selfishness is the father of lies, whose place is in the outer darkness. Nothing is ever gained by a selfish person, save the experience which leads him in the end to see how unprofitable selfishness is and the necessity of leaving it behind him. As one presses forward in his quest of light and truth, the life becomes a constant overcoming, wherein all the shadows and unrealities are left behind; one wherein all that is partial or incomplete becomes whole and complete and the knowledge of the real self comes: then all is changed and our thoughts, inspired by our deepest feelings, become messengers of light and life and love to bless and do good to all. All the evil is gone: God and His Creation is all there is and man is at-one with God and his fellow man.

To the pure in heart all things become pure. When man looks with God's eyes on the world about him, he will pronounce all things good, he will know that from first to last all things have been working together for his perfect development, and that God's law when fully understood is the law of love. Having thus risen to a knowledge of the true law, the real inheritance of life is made known: that we are sons of God and joint heirs with Christ, that we have passed from death unto life into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

III - ELEMENTS IN CHARACTER-BUILDING

"Slave to no sect, who takes no private road.

But looks through Nature up to Nature's God;

Pursues that chain which links the immense design.

Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine;

Sees that no being any bliss can know,

But touches some above, and some below;

Learns from this union of the rising whole,

The first, last purpose of the human soul;

And knows where faith, law, morals, all began,

All end, in Love of God, and Love of Man."

— Pope.

FAITH

What we are is the result of what we have thought. In the process of evolution thinking may have covered a vast period of time, nevertheless thought shapes the protoplasm as well as every other form in the ascent of life until in the fullness of time the body of man becomes the outward expression of that which he has thought himself to be. Mind, intelligence, thought, are in all things, even from the least to the greatest; thought in itself is only the instrument which shapes all form; the real substance of life is faith. Take away the element of faith and thought ceases to be creative. To the degree that faith enters into the life, man becomes a creator. In thoroughly intelligent character-building we must consider the relative value of everything entering into the plan of life in order to get perfect results.