Perfection Is Our Goal
We are a part of a gigantic creation, and it is
not strange that everything does not work in perfection; our universe was not
created in perfection. Perfection is our eternal goal, not our origin.
Hope
that Transcends Fear
And throughout every trial and in the presence of
every hardship, spirit-born souls are sustained by that hope which transcends
all fear because the love of God is shed abroad in all hearts by the presence
of the divine Spirit.
The
Power of an Idea
In influencing the expanding evolutionary mind,
the power of an idea lies not in its reality or reasonableness but rather in
its vividness and the universality of its ready and simple application.
Goodness, Beauty, and Truth
The sincere pursuit of goodness, beauty, and truth
leads to God.
Service
Service -- more service, increased service,
difficult service, adventurous service, and at last divine and perfect service
-- is the goal of time and the destination of space.
Greatness
Greatness lies not so much in
possessing strength as in making a wise and divine use of such strength.
The
Privilege of Service
The privilege of service immediately follows the
discovery of trustworthiness. Nothing can stand between you and opportunity
for increased service except your own untrustworthiness, your lack of capacity
for appreciation of the solemnity of trust.
Trustworthiness
Trust is the crucial test of will creatures.
Trustworthiness is the true measure of self-mastery, character.
Achievement
Your actual achievement is not so
important as the fact that the direction of your progress is Godward.
A
Heart Dominated by Love
Let your hearts be so dominated by love that your
spirit guide will have little trouble in delivering you from the tendency to
give vent to those outbursts of animal anger which are inconsistent with the
status of divine sonship.
Time
You all have time in which to insure your
survival; and time is fatally squandered only when it is buried in neglect...
Failure to improve one's time to the fullest extent possible does not impose
fatal penalties; it merely retards the pilgrim of time in his journey of
ascent.
Mercy requires...
Mercy requires that every wrongdoer have
sufficient time in which to formulate a deliberate and fully chosen attitude
regarding his evil thoughts and sinful acts.
The
Educated Person
Truly educated persons are not satisfied with
remaining in ignorance of the lives and doings of their fellows.
Regrettable Experiences
Be not downcast by your failure wholly to forget
some of your regrettable experiences. The mistakes which you fail to forget in
time will be forgotten in eternity.
Opportunity
What you begin in time you will assuredly finish
in eternity -- if it is worth finishing.
Ambition
Ambition is dangerous until it is fully
socialized. You have not truly acquired any virtue until your acts make you
worthy of it.
Love
your Enemies
Love your enemies -- remember the moral claims of
human brotherhood.
Heroism
Mind bravery is a higher type of human courage,
but the highest and supreme is uncompromising loyalty to the enlightened
convictions of profound spiritual realities. And such courage constitutes the
heroism of the God-knowing man.
Change
without Growth
Change without growth, expansion of meaning and
exaltation of value, is valueless -- is potential evil.
Acts
of Goodness
No act of good is ever wholly lost; it may be long
thwarted but never wholly annulled, and it is eternally potent in proportion
to the divinity of its motivation.
Hardships of Life
When thinking men and women look upon Jesus as he
offers up his life on the cross, they will hardly again permit themselves to
complain at even the severest hardships of life, much less at petty
harassments and their many purely fictitious grievances.
Divine
Love
The beauty of divine love, once fully admitted to
the human heart, forever destroys the charm of sin and the power of evil.
Life's
Opportunities
Ability is the practical measure of life's
opportunities. You will never be held responsible for the accomplishment of
that which is beyond your abilities.
Graciousness
You can cultivate gracefulness, but graciousness is
the aroma of friendliness which emanates from a love-saturated soul.
Exhibiting Mercy
You should realize that there is a great reward of
personal satisfaction in being first just, next fair, then patient, then kind.
And then, on that foundation, if you choose and have it in your heart, you can
take the next step and really show mercy; but you cannot exhibit mercy in and
of itself.
Love
Others
If you love people, they will draw near you -- you
will have no difficulty in winning them.
Love
Love is the desire to do good to others.
Evil
The possibility of evil is necessary to moral
choosing, but not the actuality thereof....Evil becomes a reality of personal
experience only when a moral mind makes evil its choice.
Living
Truth
Truth is living; the Spirit of Truth is ever leading
the children of light into new realms of spiritual reality and divine service.
Faith
and Fear
Few persons live up to the faith which they really
have. Unreasoned fear is a master intellectual fraud practiced upon the
evolving mortal soul.
Triumphant Faith
Belief may not be able to resist doubt and
withstand fear, but faith is always triumphant over doubting, for faith is
both positive and living.
Fatherly Love
Fatherly love has singleness of purpose, and it
always looks for the best in man; that is the attitude of a true parent.
Hope
Sometimes the planting of a seed necessitates its
death, the death of your fondest hopes, before it can be reborn to bear the
fruits of new life and new opportunity.
Prejudice Blinds the Soul
Prejudice blinds the soul to the recognition of
truth, and prejudice can be removed only by the sincere devotion of the soul
to the adoration of a cause that is all-embracing and all-inclusive of one's
fellow men.
A
Philosophy of Living
An effective philosophy of living is formed by a
combination of cosmic insight and the total of one’s emotional reactions to
the social and economic environment.
Human
Rights
Every human right is associated with a social duty;
group privilege is an insurance mechanism which unfailingly demands the full
payment of the exacting premiums of group service.
Things
Spiritual
Your only assurance of a personal God consists in
your own insight as to your belief in, and experience with, things spiritual.
Our
Earthly Goal
At first life was a struggle for existence; now, for
a standard of living; next it will be for quality of thinking, the coming
earthly goal of human existence.
Our
Relationships
The relationships between
personalities are never scaffolding; mortal memory of personality
relationships has cosmic value and will persist.
Dangers
of Pride
Of all the dangers which beset man's mortal nature and
jeopardize his spiritual integrity, pride is the greatest. Courage is
valorous, but egotism is vainglorious and suicidal.
Personality
If this were a mechanistic universe . . .
there would be no disagreement; there would be no friction. But in our
evolving universe of relative perfection and imperfection we rejoice that
disagreement and misunderstanding are possible, for thereby is evidenced
the fact and the act of personality in the universe.
Afflictions |
Man should not blame God for those afflictions which
are the natural result of the life which he chooses to live; neither should
man complain of those experiences which are a part of life as it is lived on
this world.
Perfection|
We are a part of a gigantic creation, and it is not
strange that everything does not work in perfection; our universe was not
created in perfection. Perfection is our eternal goal, not our origin.
Humor
Humor functions as an automatic safety
valve to prevent the building up of excessive pressures due to the
monotony of sustained and serious self-contemplation..
Effective Praying|
You must make a wholehearted choice of the divine
will. You must obliterate the dead center of indecision.
A
Victorious Human Life|
The consciousness of a victorious human life on earth is
born of that creature faith which dares to challenge each recurring
episode of existence when confronted with the awful spectacle of human
limitations, by the unfailing declaration: Even if I cannot do this, there
lives in me one who can and will do it.!
Brotherhood
Brotherhood constitutes a fact of relationship
between every personality in universal existence. No person can escape the
benefits or the penalties that may come as a result of relationship to other
persons. The good effort of each man benefits all men; the error or evil of
each man augments the tribulation of all men.
Unexpected Situations
The mortal personality, never sure as to which will next
be encountered, through humor swiftly grasps... the unexpected nature of the
situation be it fact or be it truth.
Our
Future and Past
The future signifies struggle and advancement; it
bespeaks work, effort, and achievement; but the past savors of things already
mastered and achieved.
Peace
on Earth |
Without God, neither freedom and liberty, nor property and wealth will lead to
peace.
Unremitting Service
Jesus taught men to place a high value upon
themselves in time and in eternity. Because of this high estimate which Jesus
placed upon men, he was willing to spend himself in the unremitting service of
humankind.
Uncertainty |
When the clouds gather overhead, your faith should accept the fact of the
presence of the indwelling Spirit Adjuster, and thus you should be able to look
beyond the mists of mortal uncertainty into the clear shining of the sun of
eternal righteousness ...
Misguided Conscience
A misguided conscience can become responsible for
much conflict, worry, sorrow, and no end of human unhappiness.
Spiritual Loyalty and Wealth |
Riches have nothing directly to do with entrance into the kingdom of heaven,
but the love of wealth does.
The spiritual loyalties of the kingdom are incompatible with servility to
materialistic mammon. Man may not share his supreme loyalty to a spiritual
ideal with a material devotion.
Freewill Choice
The portal of eternity opens only in response to
the freewill choice of the freewill sons of the God of free will.
Courage
Is courage -- strength of character -- desirable?
Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with
hardships and reacting to disappointments.
Pressure
Man is not saved or ennobled by pressure...Spiritual
growth is greatest where all external pressures are at a minimum.
Providence
When men pray for providential intervention in the
circumstances of life, many times the answer to their prayer is their own
changed attitudes toward life.
Mind -
The Referee
The mind of evolutionary man is ever
confronted with the intricate problem of refereeing the contest between
the natural expansion of emotional impulses and the moral growth of
unselfish urges predicated on spiritual insight.
Partnership with God |
...When man and God enter into partnership, no
limitation can be placed upon the future possibilities of such a
partnership.
Truth
The more truth you know, the more truth you are, the
more of the past you can understand and of the future you can comprehend.
The
Sincere Religionist
The sincere religionist is conscious of universe
citizenship and is aware of making contact with sources of superhuman power.
Genuine
Religion
Genuine religion renders the religionist socially
fragrant and creates insights into human fellowship.
Genuine
Prayer
Genuine prayer adds to spiritual growth, modifies
attitudes, and yields that satisfaction which comes from communion with
divinity.
Effective Prayer
If you engage in effective praying, you must make a wholehearted choice of the
divine will. You must obliterate the dead center of indecision.
An
Eternal Quest
Knowledge is an eternal quest; always are you
learning, but never are you able to arrive at the full knowledge of absolute
truth.
Love
Human things must be known in order to be loved,
but divine things must be loved in order to be known.
True
Religion
Always keep in mind: True religion is to know God as
your Father and man as your brother.
Greatness
To be great is to be Godlike.
Egoistic Desires
Jesus seemed to be utterly free from all egoistic
desire to win an argument merely to experience logical triumph over his
fellows, being interested supremely in just one thing: to proclaim everlasting
truth ...
Eternal Life |
When, by living faith, you become divinely God-conscious, you are then born of
the spirit as children of light and life, even the eternal life wherewith you
shall ascend the universe of universes and attain the experience of finding
God the Father on Paradise.
Work
Have faith in God to the end of your days on
earth. Never forget that, when you are a faith son of God, all upright work of
the realm is sacred. Nothing which a son of God does can be common. Do your
work, therefore, from this time on, as for God.
Tact
and Tolerance
You cannot hope for a large measure of success in
either secular or religious work unless you can learn how to persuade your
fellows.... You simply must have tact and tolerance.
True
Believer
The true believer does not grow weary in
well-doing just because he is thwarted. Difficulty whets the ardor of the
truth lover, while obstacles only challenge the exertions of the undaunted
kingdom builder.
Every
Moral Choice
Every time man makes a reflective moral choice, he
immediately experiences a new divine invasion of his soul.
God
Concious Mortal
The God-conscious mortal is certain of salvation;
he is unafraid of life; he is honest and consistent. He knows how bravely to
endure unavoidable suffering; he is uncomplaining when faced by inescapable
hardship.
Religious Faith
Religious faith is available alike to the learned
and the unlearned.
God's
Will
Never forget there is only one adventure which is
more satisfying and thrilling than the attempt to discover the will of the
living God, and that is the supreme experience of honestly trying to do that
divine will.
Jesus'
Religious Life
The secret of Jesus' unparalleled religious life
was a consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent
prayer and sincere worship ...
Fatherly
Love
Fatherly love has singleness of purpose, and it
always looks for the best in man...
Fear
and Anger
Fear and anger weaken character and destroy
happiness.
Effective Praying
You must qualify as a potent prayer by sincerely
and courageously facing the problems of universe reality. You must possess
cosmic stamina.
Moral
and Spiritual Adjustments
Only moral and spiritual adjustments can be made on
the spur of the moment, and even these require the passing of time for the
full outworking of their material and social repercussions.
Values
You can best discover values in your associates by
discovering their motivation. If someone irritates you, causes feelings of
resentment, you should sympathetically seek to discern his viewpoint, his
reasons for such objectionable conduct.
Our
Father Within Us
Do not allow the magnitude of the infinity, the
immensity of the eternity, and the grandeur and glory of the matchless
character of God to overawe, stagger, or discourage you; for the Father is not
very far from any one of you; he dwells within you...
Brotherhood
Brotherhood constitutes a fact of relationship between every personality in
universal existence. No person can escape the benefits or the penalties that
may come as a result of relationship to other persons. The good effort of each
man benefits all men; the error or evil of each man augments the tribulation
of all men.
A
Victorious Human Life
The consciousness of a victorious human life on earth is born of that creature
faith which dares to challenge each recurring episode of existence when
confronted with the awful spectacle of human limitations, by the unfailing
declaration: Even if I cannot do this, there lives in me one who can and will
do it...
  TRUE Government |
The ten steps or stages to the evolution of a true democracy.
Freedom
of the Person
Slavery,
serfdom, and all forms of human bondage must disappear.
Freedom
of the Mind
Unless a free
people are educated -- taught to think intelligently and plan wisely --
freedom usually does more harm than good.
The
reign of law.
Liberty can be
enjoyed only when the will and whims of human rulers are replaced by
legislative enactments in accordance with accepted fundamental law.
Freedom
of speech.
Representative
government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of expression for
human aspirations and opinions.
Security
of property.
No government
can long endure if it fails to provide for the right to enjoy personal
property in some form. Man craves the right to use, control, bestow, sell,
lease, and bequeath his personal property.
The
right of petition.
Representative government assumes the right of citizens to be heard. The
privilege of petition is inherent in free citizenship.
The
right to rule.
It is not
enough to be heard; the power of petition must progress to the actual
management of the government.
Universal
suffrage.
Representative
government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal electorate.
The character of such a government will ever be determined by the character
and caliber of those who compose it. As civilization progresses, suffrage,
while remaining universal for both sexes, will be effectively modified,
regrouped, and otherwise differentiated.
Control
of public servants.
No civil
government will be serviceable and effective unless the citizenry possess
and use wise techniques of guiding and controlling officeholders and public
servants.
Intelligent
and trained representation.
The survival of democracy is dependent on successful representative
government; and that is conditioned upon the practice of electing to public
offices only those individuals who are technically trained, intellectually
competent, socially loyal, and morally fit.
Only by such provisions can government
of the people, by the people, and for the people be preserved.