Challenge and Response
Revelations

It is implicit in life that man face with courage all the trials he encounters if he is to achieve the ultimate satisfaction that life offers. It is sometimes difficult to understand how such challenges provide opportunity for spiritual advancement. It is difficult to understand the reason for such challenges, difficult as they often are.

Let man realize that he himself in his wisdom and need designed each of these challenges. He needs to be aware in this human existence that he is the architect of his own life plan. Most individuals, given this truth, find assurance in their strength, their capacity to not only survive but to gain from each challenge met and overcome.

It is futile to protest and to deny one's ability to rise above the problems that life entails. It is without question man's responsibility to accept cheerfully all the demands of his life and to know both their divine origin and the strength he possesses to achieve peaceful victory of all he faces. The greater the challenge the greater the satisfaction.

There is much seeming injustice in this world, but know, My children, that in each life there is both need and will to endure. There is in each soul come to earth an inherent capacity to do all possible to right the wrongs of this planet while struggling with the demands of his life. Do not consider any positive response wasted. Each courageous act, each honest protest, each cheerful acceptance of challenge is a source of inspiration and joy, inspiration to those who observing are stirred to emulation and joy to the individual whose triumph takes him one step closer to the perfection he came to this earth to achieve.

Not all the challenges of life are great or dramatic. Each day brings its share of small challenges, and each time man meets these challenges with courage, love, and acceptance, he triumphs.

So, My children, know that when the road traveled is a less than easy path, there is right and reason in hardship and that there is no limit to man's capacity to achieve growth and satisfaction in his response. At the end of this road lies the reason for its beginning.

The Need for Loving Response
Revelations

In the midst of sorrow find joy, for the travails of this life are a path to goodness and God. The more intense the pain, the greater the challenge. The greater the challenge, the purer the response.

Man in his contemplation of the world about him often feels confused by the unequal distribution of material benefits. He regards wealth as a blessing and health as an equal blessing. In many cases man fails to delve below the surface to examine the relationship between material blessings and the happiness and self esteem that lie below superficial appearances. It is true, often, that the soul in torment is a soul who is sorely tried by the deprivations of life, by the torment of bodily pain, by the loneliness that life often imposes. It is equally true that the soul in torment may reside in a human gifted and blessed in every material way.

What is the answer then to happiness and joy in this earthly journey man takes from birth to the grave? The answer lies in the response man makes from the very beginning to each challenge that life presents to him. He is obliged to respond with love to all that he experiences. This is the path and the only path to earthly joy.

Let us ask how one man can differ so completely from another in the degree of loving acceptance he knows to all that life demands of him. The answer is not simple, but those who know love and who accept the love offered to them by others find it easiest to achieve this loving acceptance of all that life offers. Those who from birth have a loving example are most likely to live in the ways of love, but this is not always so, and the soul who achieves this loving response to all that life demands of him without having the blessing of example achieves the greater victory and often knows even greater self satisfaction in his triumph over travail.

A loving response then to all that life offers and demands is then the only path to earthly joy. All men face challenges in this life. No one is spared. All men are born capable of sustaining a loving acceptance of all that is given and demanded of them. All men are responsible for doing what they promised to do before coming to this life. All men thereby please themselves and in pleasing themselves please their God. There is no greater happiness.

Triumph in Tragedy
Revelations

In the best of times man finds it within himself to meet the challenges of life with a willing heart and to feel within himself the certainty that marks progress to spiritual perfection. He finds within himself a ready acceptance of all that he is asked to do and to take into his heart those he encounters in his daily life. He seeks to please both himself and those whose lives touch his. He lives with a steady awareness that all he experiences has reason and purpose and that even the seemingly most insignificant of decisions demands loving response.

There are times when man is sorely tried, times when it is difficult for him to keep a steady faith, but it is precisely at these times that it is possible for the soul to triumph in the most meaningful of ways. The more difficult the challenge, the greater the reward in spiritual progress.

Be aware then that at all times there is triumph in tragedy, and that at all times victory over material defeat is possible. Know that all strength and goodness finds its reward. Know that at all times man must live in love if he is to achieve all that is needful to fulfill his purpose in this life and to find the inner harmony that gives meaning to human experience.

Monday, 2/28/00 11:43PM - Lessons

In the midst of life, with all its pleasures and pain, man gets caught up in the details of everyday life. He often has little time for contemplation. He often has little time to be concerned with issues other than those of his daily life and its requirements. This is by no means to be deplored, for in the process of meeting the demands of his chosen life he may be fulfilling all that is required of him. He may be meeting each decision he faces in an ordinary day with a heart full of love and a determination to act in love. He may know great inner peace in this quiet and loving existence. He may be creating great happiness in the lives of those dependent upon him in ways great and small. He may never feel threatened in any way by unhappiness or conflict.

This then is the ideal, and happily it reflects the lives of many blessed souls come to earth to complete their pilgrimage to perfection. Yet most lives, even those which resemble the perfection of problem-free existence, experience minor crisis. It may be the sickness of a child. It may be economic crisis. It may be a world shattering event far removed but immediately consequential. In all cases, man is called upon to cope with whatever alterations these new complications create in his life. Armed with the strength of the love that characterizes his existence, he feels quite capable of dealing with the changes in his life that outside forces demand. He does not lose his sense of well being nor his faith in the goodness of life, but he begins to be aware that his world is not as secure from threat as he once assumed.

The vast majority of men over the eons of human existence have lived such ordinary loving and peaceful lives. They have occasionally been touched by disaster far beyond their immediate control, and they have at times been touched by disaster closer to home. In such cases the soul aware of its needs meets the challenges of life with full faith in his capacity to cope and with a heart full of love that survives all challenge.

All men are capable of this splendid response to interruption of their tranquility, to unexpected challenge, and they draw great strength from the love that they have created in their relationships both within and without the family. The sweet fabric of life may be strained by trial, but is never destroyed so long as man knows that he is meant to live in peaceful acceptance of all of life, both joy and sorrow.

Tuesday, 3/14/00 11:40PM - Lessons

Before and above all else, man comes to earthly life ready to submit himself to all difficulties, to accept all benefit, to demand no more than he is given, and to accept gratefully each opportunity to progress in his journey to spiritual perfection. Clearly man in his earthly experience does not recall this commitment to promises made before birth, but he does come with all the power to fulfill those promises, and he comes with full awareness of his gift of free will, in itself a powerful tool, one to be used wisely.

For some men, the road to spiritual perfection seems easier than it is for others. For the fortunate few, the path is swift and sure. For others, the path is strewn with obstacles and is slow and agonizing. For most souls in progress, the path is one between these two extremes, but for all souls the earthly experience is a constant challenge. For all there is temptation. For all there is despair and discouragement. For all however there is certainty of ultimate success, of eventual triumph over all difficulty, and the supreme satisfaction of heavenly acceptance and eternal bliss.

It is not an easy matter for man struggling to accept all that he is asked to endure in a spirit of total love and understanding, but that is exactly what he must ideally do. With acceptance comes renewed strength and new found optimism. Man finds himself armed as he never dreamed he might be to deal with all obstacles to dismiss all doubts and to emerge from trial triumphant and vindicated.

It is joy indeed when man knows his own power, when he finds within himself all he needs to cope with trial and tribulation, and to find in his acceptance and struggle new found joy and enormous satisfaction in himself. At times this may be a struggle both difficult and protracted, and the soul in progress may be tempted to despair, but it is always within his capacity to reject these feelings and to struggle to a success that fills him with a new sense of worth and a new awareness of his capacity for goodness and grace.

Tuesday, 4/11/00 12:02AM - Lessons

It is of the utmost importance that man remember at every step of his journey through life that he is at all times capable of achieving human happiness in this life and achieving spiritual perfection to prepare him for the next.

In order for man to reach this level of achievement he must accept the truth that his experiences are not as significant as his reaction to them. The poorest and most abject of men, subject to pain and deprivation of all kinds, may be the object of pity to all who observe him, but he may in his total loving acceptance of all life's ill treatment have achieved an inner peace to be envied. He may know sweet comfort in his faith that all he is asked to endure has reason and purpose, and he may be the most generously endowed of men in purity of soul and appreciation of all he knows in peace and tranquility.

It does not follow that deprivation assures grace. There is in life infinite variety in the paths to grace, and often the outer signs offer little insight into the soul of man. Among the most privileged of men there are those who live in full contentment with their lot and seek to share their good fortune. Others equally blessed materially may be consumed with greed and starve spiritually in their grasping for further gratification while ignoring their responsibility to share their good fortune.

The vast majority of souls in progress lie between the extremes of great wealth and total deprivation, and the great majority of these souls find contentment in what they are given and are willing to endure trial with faith and acceptance. These souls achieve an inner peace which lights their lives and the lives of those around them. Those who fail in this loving acceptance of all that their lives offer and all that their lives deny them find an emptiness in their resistance to the inevitable and must learn by experience and example to achieve the equanimity that only the accepting soul can know.

Thursday, 4/13/00 11:30PM - Lessons

When man experiences joy, he is willing to believe that the earth is a blessed place and that his is a blessed existence. He is grateful for each pleasure that life affords, for all the love he is privileged to know in his daily life, and he is aware usually of a beneficent presence governing his life and urging him to follow the paths of love and giving and goodness.

Even when he experiences difficulty, he finds it within himself to accept the challenge and to remember how completely his blessings outweigh his difficulties. Thus armed, he is able to retain a steady faith both in himself and in the goodness and reasonableness of all that life affords him. It is more difficult if his pain and deprivation are both severe and prolonged. Repeated trials may sorely try his faith in life and in himself. He may be tempted to feel cheated by life and to question the justice he thought part of his earthly expectation.

It is at the point of despair that it is critical for man to reassess and find within himself added strength and a willingness to accept all that is asked of him in trial and tribulation. If he is fortunate, he will benefit from the efforts of those bound to him in love to lighten his burdens and to share their strength with him. Man so blessed is once again reminded of the power of love and is able to accept lovingly all life's demands.

Few men face life's difficulties friendless and unloved, but even these lonely souls are capable of knowing themselves capable of enduring all trial with love in their hearts and with awareness that even when life seems most unfair there is reason and learning in all that life expects of them. They find comfort in the lessons that hardship teaches. They find strength in themselves and in love shared.

In joy and in sorrow, in plenty and in want, man survives best when he accepts all of life's adventures and challenges in the certainty that there is needed learning in all of earthly experience and that above all he must persist in the effort to learn the lessons of love.

Friday, 4/21/00 1:48AM EDT - Lessons

It is man's strength to know without a single doubt that whatever life demands of him he is able to accept. He may know great joy and feel the sweetness of existence and hope that there will be no shadows to diminish his joy. In some cases this wish seems magical in its effectiveness and his life continues to be totally pleasurable and carefree. Other lives may be blighted almost from the start, but at all times the soul in progress needs to remember that he has chosen a difficult road to spiritual perfection and that he has the inner strength that affords both acceptance and a willingness to struggle, however difficult it seems to him to do so.

Not all lives are such opposite extremes. The great majority of souls in progress have chosen to live lives of both joy and sorrow, realizing the need for learning the lessons of love regardless of circumstance. All men follow the road they have chosen, and if this is kept firmly in mind at each step in their journeys, there is no limit to their capacity to cope with difficulty and to accept their blessings with gratitude and a determination to respond to all that life offers with acceptance filled with love and awareness of the rightness of all experience.

Man is strengthened by the very realization that all his earthly experience is of his choosing and that at no time need he fail in response. Therein lies inner peace and grace.

Wednesday, 5/3/00 11:59PM - Lessons

In times of difficulty, when man's patience is sorely tried, he is best able to make the spiritual progress that gives earthly life meaning. In most cases man finds within himself this patience as well as the strength to deal with all that is within his power. Often he depends heavily on those who are aware of his need, and in turn those giving aid share in this divine progress. At times there is no one on whom the soul in distress can rely directly, and he must seek aid from strangers. This love offers spiritual gain, for to respond to the needs of a stranger is noble indeed and brings great satisfaction to those who give and those who receive.

Once man survives earthly crisis, he finds within himself new strengths, and in the full awareness of these strengths he is able to accept new trials with full faith in his capacity to not only survive but to grow in wisdom and awareness. He begins to sense in himself capacities that he deems beyond the ordinary and begins to be aware of divine succor. With this awareness he serves as an example of saving grace to all who share his life and are aware of his new found strength. Above all, he becomes aware of the benefit of loving acceptance of all that is asked of him, and his heart rejoices in the peace that comes with this awareness that all that occurs in his earthly existence has reason and benefit.

When man reaches the point of loving acceptance of all that life demands of him in challenge, no matter its severity, no matter its duration, he has triumphed over all adversity and reached a point of spiritual perfection that is endlessly comforting. He is safe and secure in faith absolute.

Sunday, 5/28/00 10:06PM - Lessons

All those born to human life share a common heritage. All come to earthly existence for the same purpose. All come in full agreement of their divine commitment. All come in joy and optimism, in faith perfect that all that is required of them will be simple in accomplishment.

The great majority of these visitors to earth, divine in their conception and perfect in their capacities, succeed in whole or in part in accomplishing all that they came to human life to embrace in full faith. They leave this life aware of their own accomplishments and of their own failings in total awareness that they will know loving acceptance of all that life has offered to them in challenge and triumph.

The human journey is a journey of love shared, of triumph and tragedy, of faith and forgiveness and infinite hope and trust. It is a journey blessed in its origin and totally accepting in its finish. Between this beginning and this end man knows complete control of all he desires to prove in his goodness and acceptance of divine will. No matter how horrific his life's experiences may be, he is saved absolutely from spiritual failure by his willingness to live in love no matter what his experience, no matter the degree of alienation he may know, no matter the extent of material deprivation.

Thus man is at all times free to triumph and to progress in his search for perfection, for all that is demanded of him is acceptance in total love of all that is demanded of him in mortal life. This is joy indeed.

Saturday, 6/3/00 11:55PM - Lessons

When man considers his experiences at the end of each day, it is easy for him to be discouraged if he has not known peace, joy, love and a sense of accomplishment. Ideally all men should end each day pleased with all he has experienced but this is not constantly the case. Life is strewn with disappointments and frustrations, and although not each day is so marked in human existence, it is a part of man's journey from time to time. Sometimes these misfortunes are minor and temporary. At other times they are a significant impact upon man's sense of well being and they may be lingering in their effect.

In all these cases it is important for man to remember at the end of each day in his journey from birth to death that he has deemed himself capable of responding to all earthly challenges with loving acceptance and full confidence in his ability to not only survive but to do so in full awareness of its importance to him in spiritual progress.

In all of life there is learning. There is learning in pure joy. There is learning in intense sorrow. Man needs to remember the transitory nature of both joy and sorrow in earthly life. He needs to remember that he has promised to experience both and to accept both in complete awareness of his capacity for love, the single essential ingredient in all human experience leading to spiritual perfection, the ultimate achievement, the key to all glory.

Wednesday, 6/7/00 10:10PM - Lessons

In all of life man is called upon to respond to each and every experience with the acceptance that mirrors love and trust in all those bound to him in ties of love both of this world and of the world beyond his immediate awareness.

Man is often blessed in life with all the encompassing love that makes all hardship tolerable, all pain bearable, all loss acceptable. When he is not so blessed, he must rely both upon his inner strength and upon the love that comes from afar and finds its place in his innermost soul. Whatever the circumstances, it is always possible for man to endure the greatest difficulty with full faith in its rightness, to strive without pause to return to the peace and security of a life without threat or problems.

It is a blessed quality in all mankind that he knows in his innermost soul that nothing is asked of him beyond his capacity. Nothing can defeat man in this absolute security and in his full challenge that the truest triumph is not physical but spiritual in the glory of spiritual progress. The man who is capable of loving acceptance of all trial in the face of insuperable odds is the most triumphant of men. His soul speaks truly and all listen.

Thursday, 6/22/00 11:00PM - Lessons

Each man holds in his hands control of his own destiny. This is a statement perfect in its truth but objectionable and even repellent to many. What, they ask, of those deprived in all ways of earthly satisfaction, those who die at the hands of others, those who suffer so woefully in need and frustration? How can it be said that these souls control their own destinies?

To bolster faith in this assertion man must remember two things at the very beginning of his consideration. He must remember that a single life is not all of human history. He must accept the transient nature of human existence and acknowledge that the soul survives human death and, if needed, returns to a new life to pursue his goals.

This too, then, must be remembered. Man comes into human life aware of all he needs to achieve the perfection of love that leads to oneness. It is of no import that man achieve success in earthly terms. He may choose to be a prince. He may choose to be a beggar. These differing states are inconsequential in the totality of renewed life.

It is important only to remember that the key to earthly joy and spiritual progress is the willing and loving acceptance of all that life offers and all that life demands, aware at all times that all that man experiences is of his own choice and that never is he lacking in capacity. His mission always is to achieve the perfection of love that is the gateway to perfection, to oneness in total joy.

Sunday, 6/25/00 11:38PM - Lessons

When all else fails, man looks to forces he senses but does not understand. When he is aware of his own impotence, whatever the cause of this weakness, he knows that there is power beyond his own. He senses that he need only ask and that he will be able to share in this extraordinary strength.

This innate awareness lies dormant in man's consciousness at all times, but it is only in time of trial when man becomes aware of his great need that it emerges in his consciousness as an answer to his need. He chooses to surrender will and to identify with power he can only sense and which he knows in his heart to be his in response to need.

Man knows many such moments in the course of his earthly experience. Most often his heart speaks truly and he learns dependence upon the divinity, source of all power and healing. It is not always easy for man to so surrender his own sense of primacy, and often he procrastinates and rationalizes, but when he reaches the state of acceptance of his own frailty and his need for aid, he knows that he has achieved wisdom and peace, and he knows in full faith that never is his need for strength unmet. He finds power within by accepting power without. He is in all ways blessed, and he is grateful in his gratification.

Thursday, 11/5/98 11:51PM EST - The Divine Nature of Man

There is little that is known. There is much that is speculated. There is much to be learned. There is much to be revealed. I speak here about the eternal question. What is the meaning of life? Why does man make this journey? Why does earthly existence find itself marked and to some marred by inequities beyond measure?

For eons man has struggled to answer these questions. Great teachers have sought to provide answers. Some have come close to perfection in their teaching. Some have been faithfully followed. Others have seen their teaching lost and distorted by human interpretation. No single teacher has succeeded in conveying to mankind the perfection of the divine plan. No group of followers has succeeded in accepting the purity of each teacher's original enlightenment. In all cases, man has lost the purity of truth in the struggle for power that ensued in each and every religious doctrinal belief.

It is pity indeed that this should have occurred, but once again we are forced to find understanding in the free will of man to do as he chooses at each step in human life. Power is a powerful aphrodisiac, and all too often over the centuries man has found himself seeking to control, to enjoy the power that comes with this control over his fellow man, and to lose, either partially or completely, awareness of his true perfect goal in life, that of knowing love in all its wonder, love given and received, love that defies condition.

Many souls, with all good intent, are seduced by those who proclaim themselves spokesmen for God, those who insist on absolute fidelity to all they proclaim. Often they rule in fear. At times they promise all that man craves in understanding the mystery of life and death. Most often they seek absolute security in knowing that they share absolute and immutable truth. Often they are tempted to regard all who disagree as spiritually unaware or even corrupt in their differing beliefs.

Let man know now that the divine truth is infinitely simple. There is only one mandate. That single mandate is to follow the path of love during his human voyage, to know absolutely the brotherhood of man, and to meet his brother's needs in all ways. There should be no strangers to the soul in journey. There should be no exception to his love. There should be infinite happiness in this love that dictates his every thought, word, and deed.

Once man accepts this simple truth, life becomes a glorious road to travel, a road that leads to human happiness, regardless of pitfalls and trials, and a road to the oneness that is the eternal goal. Perfection awaits the human traveler. He has only to learn the single and ultimate lesson of love.

Tuesday, 11/10/98 11:40PM - The Divine Nature of Man

At all times the soul in progress knows its heavenly origin.

The least aware of souls on their human journey is forced to admit his lack of power over his earthly incarnation. He is subject to ills beyond his control. He enjoys talents not of his creation. He encounters problems not of his making and he solves them with abilities that are not of his creating. In all, man on this earthly journey is forced to recognize that he is not master of his fate in all that befalls him. There is much that he would choose to control but cannot. His very body is subject to control beyond his understanding. He cannot predict in any way what will befall him in his life.

Most of the time man does not concern himself with this overriding truth. He is aware always of the mind which speaks to him of his capabilities, and indeed this is truth granted to him. He believes himself capable of decisions which guide his day to day existence, and this is to some extent true. He believes that he chooses freely those with whom he chooses to be emotionally involved and yet he forgets that his choices are limited beyond his control.

In all, man treads a somewhat narrow path. He does not determine the length of his life. He does not determine the physical, mental, or spiritual gifts with which he is endowed. Yet it is tempting for man to take pride in all that is good and to blame some exterior force for all that he regards as bad.

In the course of his voyage through life man generally becomes keenly aware of his lack of control over exterior forces. Yet he finds within himself confidence that he can control his own destiny to some extent, and indeed this is a blessed awareness, for it is the ultimate responsibility of man to control his destiny by responding to all that he does in life in a spirit of loving acceptance of all that he is given and all that he is denied. When man reaches this awareness he has reached awareness of his divine nature. When man realizes that his life is divinely controlled in many ways, ways which he freely agreed to before life began, he has taken a giant step toward ultimate understanding.

Wednesday, 12/16/98 11:55PM - The Divine Nature of Man

The vast majority of men traveling through this life are content with their lots. They know within themselves the degree of belonging that comes from their choice of life. Though they do not consciously remember their choice, they feel in their very souls the rightness of belonging. Even when man knows the most tortured of lives, the most brutal of experiences, he finds within himself a certain recognition of the rightness of his lot and he knows strength in meeting all the challenges that confront him.

There are times when he is tried almost beyond endurance, when he does not suffer alone but shares with countless others the suffering imposed by one who forgets his promise to act in love and is rather motivated by greed and a lust for power which cripples his soul and which disregards completely the common good. He rots inside while proclaiming his power, and those he holds subservient suffer immeasurably.

There is no simple answer to the problems of earthly tyranny, but there is a consolation in the sure knowledge that all that occurs in a single life is minuscule in the total experience that all souls know, and that no matter how heart wrenching the experiences of a single life may be, they have value in the learning the soul seeks and needs on the road to eternal perfection.

The man, who in the direst of circumstances knows acceptance and love of his fellow men, be they beloved or be they oppressor, is the victor. All joy is his when his journey is ended. All share in his joy. He knows the blessing of a life well lived and of glory to come. He is at peace with himself.

Christmas Day 12/25/98 11:28PM - The Divine Nature of Man

At his best, man reflects his divine gifts. He accepts all of life -- its travail and its triumph equally -- and seeks to find learning in each experience. He seeks to reach out in love to all those in need and to please his God by sharing his gifts. He wants to bring to others awareness of their absolute need for love given and received and to persuade them that there is no substitute for a life lived in love of both man and God.

The most perfect of souls, those well on their way to total perfect oneness -- are the most to be admired. They stand as examples of perfection to their struggling brothers and they encourage all those who admire them from afar to draw closer and to share their generous love. In giving they find absolute enrichment and in giving they enrich the lives and souls of all those who willingly and joyfully accept the love offered to them.

There is never a time on earth when the full exchange of love fails the test of effectiveness. It is impossible to say exactly how long in earthly terms man must seek to achieve perfection in his love for himself, for his brother, and for his God. Some men learn and accept quickly the absolute necessity of love given and received. Others take longer to learn this vital lesson. It is enough to say that if man fails to learn the lessons of love and to live his life accordingly he must do in another life all he has failed to do in this.

Total failure in not permitted to any soul. Though the road to perfect belonging may not be straight and true for all men, all men are destined to follow it to the end, no matter how long, no matter its twistings and its obstacles. This absolute promise of oneness is man's greatest gift, one he should cherish always.

Sunday, 12/27/98 11:54PM - The Divine Nature of Man

It behooves man to examine closely all he does in this life in the name of love. From the very beginning of life man knows love as his strongest motivation. As an infant he know no emotion so pure. He offers love without condition and he inspires response without condition.

With the advent of early adulthood man becomes somewhat more critical and more discriminating in his capacity to give the love he once felt boundless and universal. The young look for response, and in their uncertainty they feel that love must be carefully measured less it be taken for granted and therefore, in a sense, deprived of adequate response. Man becomes fearful of rejection, of disapproval, of ridicule and it becomes his responsibility to go further in his learning and to realize that no matter the nature of his unsureness about response he will find joy in expressing his love for his brother and for all those he holds dear regardless of response or the lack of response. Thus assured he finds that most of his fears are groundless, that each gesture of love may be its own reward but that generally each gesture of love begets loving response and is therefore strengthened in its giving and gratified in its response. Each gesture of love magnifies.

This lesson enriches every aspect of man's earthly experiences. Love becomes a shield against all hurt and harm. Love learns to accept rebuff and to transform it into acceptance. Love, man realizes, is the ultimate road to earthly happiness and the only true necessity in life. Each day brings him closer to the perfection of love that is the absolute necessity of all life, and in this realization, this awareness, man finds his life immeasurably enriched and the path to perfection made smooth.

Thursday, 12/31/98 11:50PM - The Divine Nature of Man

In the fullness of time all questions are answered, all doubts resolved, all promises kept.

There is a sweetness in the cycle of life both in its beginning and in its end, and all between these two depends entirely upon man's choice. Each life is marked by trial and temptation, but these are as nothing to the soul in journey who knows the wisdom of acceptance and loving response. In this acceptance man finds peace and in this peace he finds happiness. He discovers that there is no problem too great to be resolved. He knows triumph in his awareness of his inner strength, and in this strength he finds it possible to reach out to others in need and to offer loving aid and encouragement. He serves as an example to his brothers who in turn find strength in his strength, caring in his caring, and are thereby enabled to extend their help to others in need. Thus the cycle of love given and received is magnified and extended indefinitely.

Thus man serves as an instrument of love and peace, and in this role he finds both fulfillment and awareness of his spiritual well being. He longs to share all he knows of love and giving and finds welcoming recipients. In all he does he pleases man and God and his own needs.

Wednesday, 1/13/99 10:12PM - The Divine Nature of Man

Man's talents find many outlets but no talent is comparable to his capacity for love, love unrivaled and unsurpassed. In all ways man's secondary talents are meant to complement this first, his infinite capacity for love.

Man is meant to meet his brother's needs in all ways, and when he finds himself useful in this way he finds himself blessed. It is therefore incumbent upon all souls come to earthly existence to seek to discover how each is best suited to serve well the brotherhood of man.

Some men are so gifted that there is no doubt in their minds of how they must live their lives in devotion to the gifts divinely bestowed. Such a man, a man profoundly aware of what he must do in this life, is truly an enlightened son of the Father. Whether his talents lie in medicine, religion, social service, or a myriad of other activities, all he is called upon to do is to use his talents developed as best he can to serve his brothers. It matters not at all the degree of sophistication that his talents represent. The man serving the lowliest of roles with love and caring in his heart is easily the equal of the rarest of intelligences and abilities seeking to serve equally.

Man is privileged when he knows with absolute confidence that he has found his reason for living, and in his acceptance of this role and his earnest efforts to succeed in service he becomes a soul to be envied. He knows inner peace, and in those he serves well he finds great satisfaction in their responsive love.

Not all men see clearly the significance of their lives, but even the most unaware will find awareness if they seek it truly. Man is meant to know pleasure and satisfaction in his earthly existence, and there is no pleasure or satisfaction greater than that of knowing that he has fulfilled his destiny as perfectly as he could.

Thus man pleases himself, all those bound to him in love in this life, and all those bound to him eternally. Above all he pleases God.

Wednesday, 1/20/99 11:25PM - The Divine Nature of Man

Man in his wisdom is aware at most times of the finite nature of his human capacities. He knows that he is subject in all ways to forces and powers beyond his control, that his very body is not his to command entirely. He realizes that he is at all times dependent, that he must learn to accept this dependence in good grace and seek to understand his relationship to the forces that control his physical being in ways vital to his survival.

Man responds in varying ways to this need to reconcile himself with his limited control over his physical existence. Many seek to extend this control by seeking to satisfy the needs of the body in ways they feel useful. Others choose to trust in a force that they know governs them, and they accept unquestioningly all that they know in physical well being or in physical illness. Some seek to identiy this force and to recognize in their life span the caring of a supreme being, a force loving and nurturing. Still others refuse to accept anything but blind and unseeing fate, pure chance, as the reason for existence, as an answer to all that occurs between birth and death, and they are satisfied to know that human existence is a brief meaningless interlude beyond man's capacity to comprehend but essentially without significance.

What pleases one man in explanation does not please all, and mankind in all ages has sought for answers certain and irrefutable to the overwhelming question of the reason in human existence. Dogma has proliferated. Tomes have been written and then discarded. Wars have been fought by those who regarded themselves as true believers and all others as infidels.

In all of this seeking, man has sought comfort. He has felt the absolute need for reassurance that life is not an empty exercise, that his being is not bound by mortality. In all of this seeking, man has known peace only when he has concluded that his role in life is a simple one, that he is free from all other obligations than that of living in love and brotherhood. He has put this single road to happiness above all others, and in his single mindedness he has found strength. He has often been tried. He has often been falsely accused. He has been steadfast in his faith and he has known full awareness of his role in human existence.

Sunday, 3/28/99 11:24PM - The Divine Nature of Man

It is at all times significant that man is motivated to seek understanding of all that he knows in human experience. Not all understanding is easily granted, and man is then called upon to accept without comprehension all that is demanded of him.

Man's inquiring mind is not easily stilled, and even as man professes acceptance without understanding he yearns to know more of all that is hidden from him. He seeks the advice and counsel of those older and wiser than he, and he is well served by those who advocate full surrender to the divine will and loving acceptance of all that life offers and all that life denies him.

There is a peace in acceptance that enables man to act more effectively and to effect more good than he might if his mind were in turmoil and his will unsettled. Once man becomes aware of power beyond his will, of guidance beyond human comprehension, he finds his path through life smoother and more joyous, and all who share his life become aware of his peaceful security and long to join him in this blessed state.

Man may differ from man widely in his external environment and physical experiences, but the soul of man does not differ from that of his fellow man, and what brings happiness to man is universal in all climes, in all times.

Sunday, 5/9/99 12:20AM - The Divine Nature of Man

It is one of man's strengths that he is capable at all times of understanding and acceptance of all that he endures from others in his life. Man is often born, of his choice, with difficulties that beset him, often almost from the moment of birth. Although he lacks memory of his choice, these difficulties serve to teach him all he has determined to learn in his earthly journey.

Even without awareness of his individual responsibility for the problems and challenges he faces in life, man knows in his heart that he can triumph over all he is faced with. He wavers at times when the odds against success seem overwhelming, and occasionally he surrenders to despair, but almost without exception the soul in progress finds within himself the strength and the determination to triumph, to do all that is demanded of him in a spirit of loving compliance and absolute acceptance. His triumph is not always material in nature, and this lack is of no consequence so long as his triumph is one of spiritual awareness and divine progress.

It is joy indeed to all when man knows the feeling of absolute accomplishment in the face of overwhelming challenge. He above all knows the joy of victory in the face of overwhelming odds and, all who love him from near and from afar share his joyful satisfaction. He knows fully the power of his soul, and he is both grateful and pleased in the strength he has been granted and by the divine sustenance that sustained him in the darkest moments.

All men know this wonder. All men rejoice in strength given.

Monday, 5/17/99 12:45AM - The Divine Nature of Man

At all times man needs to be aware of his own capacity to learn. He is born into a life of his own choosing with talents agreed upon to meet his needs, and with infinite desire to succeed in all he has chosen.

Man's responsibility to fulfill all the demands of this chosen life is complicated at times by lack of awareness of either his agreement or of his capacities. Nevertheless, it is his joy and his duty to do all that his heart dictates to meet the challenges of his earthly existence in a loving manner. Each trying experience becomes for him a lesson. Each experience offers opportunity to expand his capacity for loving response and to strengthen himself thereby in preparation for the challenges that will inevitably follow.

When man is open minded and aware of his own strengths, this series of challenges and responses leads eventually to fulfillment of all he needs in spiritual progress to satisfy promises made. If, on the other hand, man fails to learn from each challenge, even if he succeeds in meeting it fully, he is weakened rather than strengthened if he fails to both accept and to triumph in the loving manner that is the only acceptable way. If man feels resentment, if he feels unfairly tried, he lacks the success that affords spiritual progress. If he resists further challenges in a spirit of rebellion and disaffection, he is further weakened.

Never, however, does man lose completely the power to learn by experience, and even the most embittered of humans, the most blind in perception, have the capacity to realize the error in past behavior and learn the effectiveness of acceptance and loving response.

Tuesday, 8/10/99 11:29PM - The Divine Nature of Man

All of life is tinged by disillusionment and disappointment. All of life is marked by striving impossible of accomplishment. All of life marks man's awareness of his own capabilities, and it is within this awareness that disappointment and disillusionment lurk.

Man knows in his innermost soul his capabilities. They may be generous to the point of unlimited. They may be few to the point of utter hopelessness. Whatever the gift or the deprivation, the wealth or the poverty, the price paid for a life lived in search of spiritual progress is the learning of the lessons of love to the point where there is no chance of failure.

In the midst of life man unaware of his divine capacities struggles with forces and problems beyond his control. He needs at this point to make a simple acceptance, an acceptance of all that is asked of him and all that he is capable of giving. This is at times an easy project, and man rejoices in his release from caring responsibility. He finds strength in this acceptance and in his acceptance of his limitations, but he does not cease in his efforts to respond to all challenges in a spirit of loving acceptance.

In time his peace is augmented by awareness of increased capacities, of new strengths, and he finds himself newly capable of coping with all he needs to do to achieve peace in his temporal existence and awareness of spiritual strengthening. Each new problem becomes simpler in solution and each new solution brings new awareness of strength divinely granted and humanly earned.

Disappointment with self disappears and disillusionment becomes a faint memory.

Tuesday, 9/7/99 11:54PM - The Divine Nature of Man

In the best of times in man's journey through life, he finds it easy to have a heart full of love, a feeling of fulfillment, and a sincere appreciation of all he has been given. He cherishes those bound to him in ties of family and friendship and willingly agrees to do all they ask of him. They in turn are gratified by his love and caring, and the cycle of love given and received animates all their lives.

Some lives seem charmed, unmarked by trial and tragedy, and indeed these blessed lives seem a haven in a disordered world. Man is more often tried in various ways in his earthly journey, and it becomes his responsibility and his privilege to meet each and every difficulty he encounters in full faith and total love. At times this becomes very difficult, and man must seek deeply within himself for the patience and the courage to overcome all obstacles with a loving appreciation of all he is learning.

Not all men find this courage within themselves immediately, and they find themselves subject to despair and indecisiveness. If they are fortunate, they will be helped in all ways by those who love them and seek to bring them happiness. Such caring is a powerful force, and the soul struggling to find acceptance is immeasurably strengthened by it. It is at such times that man realizes the degree to which he is dependent for his well being on love freely offered and gratefully received.

In the worst of times then man is capable of finding in his heart the loving acceptance of all travail, and in this acceptance to find new strength to overcome. In the worst of times as well man has reason to realize anew the importance of love shared freely and gratefully returned. He knows anew the power of caring love. He cannot be defeated.

Saturday, 2/13/99 11:22PM - The Divine Nature of Man

While man struggles to understand all that life asks of him, he tries to accept that there is indeed plan and pattern to his existence.

In the face of all difficulty he finds himself questioning the reasonableness of all he is asked to endure. He is critical of himself at times for what he regards as weakness. He is questioning of the rightness of all he seems expected to endure. He seeks answers that are not forthcoming. He seeks aid from others whom he deems wiser, and he is not always satisfied with the answers he receives.

Finally he looks within himself and opens his heart to spirits he had to this point not acknowledged. He does not even then find ready answers, but he senses the beginnings of a voice he seeks speaking of love and hope. Thus encouraged, he continues to seek within himself and gradually knows an awareness that begins to him to seem the richest resource he has ever known.

Not all answers are given to him directly, but in each and every aspect of his seeking understanding emerges, and this understanding is as food to his restless soul. He finds himself quieted in his anxiety, eager to become more aware of his inner power, and more trustful in the reasonableness of life itself. He finds himself not only strengthened but cheered by newfound faith in his own capacity to know and to accept all that is expected of him in this life, mysterious as its demands may be, for he is possessed of an absolute certainty that regardless of the demand he has within himself the strength and the willingness to respond.

He knows acceptance and in this acceptance he knows infinite peace.

© 2010 Cornelia Silke dba New Light Publishing