Tuesday, 2/23/99 11:43PM

In the fullness of time there will be cause for absolute joy.

All the trials of life will find surcease, and each man striving for perfection will know success beyond his most demanding expectations. The world will know a richness of giving that will spread like wildfire and result in an outpouring of joy that will light the universe. Love will fill every heart, and no man will be untouched by such an outpouring of caring love.

Is this hard to visualize? Can you believe that this future will come to be? These questions are both reasonable and deserving of response. It is in this time of strife and upheaval, of hatreds between brothers freely expressed in conflict, indeed difficult to imagine a world free of conflict, dominated by love fully expressed in word and deed. Yet this is the future that lies inevitably ahead.

There will be changes in men's hearts that will transform this imperfect world into one where all men are gladly brothers and where all good is shared and all sorrow equally so. There will be no soul untouched by this glorious revolution. There will be no spiritual hunger, for all men will be united in the power and persuasion of love, and no creed will divide them each from the other.

From the start of time this has been the promise of utopia. Man has erred in many ways and the world of perfection lost to him for centuries, but the time has come for him to be granted enormous capacities to right the current wrongs, to return the world to a place of solace and comfort to all who seek to be comforted, and to know in his heart the greatness of his being.

Each man must see himself a part of this transformation and in each word and act of his daily life speed this wonder to fulfillment. There is power in the human will that cannot be denied. It awaits expression.

Friday, 4/23/99 10:30PM

In the long history of man on earth there has been infinite speculation about his origins and his purpose in this life.

Let it be known that man springs from the will of God, divine in his conception, perfect in his capacities, willful in his freedom, and at all times divinely linked to his origins. There have been many epochs in the history of mankind when the soul come to life has largely forgotten his divine origins, has surrendered to the temptations of material pleasure, and has abused the free will that separates him from all other earthly creatures. In these epochs of strife and inhumanity, the divine spark has been maintained by those blessed souls who held fast to their faith in the divine mandate to love above all else.

When the clouds of discord disappear, the pure of heart inherit earthly responsibility and work resolutely to establish an earthly regime where love prevails and peace lives in the hearts of all men. All too soon this peace is corrupted once again, and those who have been seduced by promise of earthly rewards overwhelm their saintly brothers and destroy the peaceful world that does not serve their purposes.

It takes little examination of human history to discern these cycles of war and peace, of discord and conciliation, and to realize the absolute need for all souls come to earth to unite in a constant effort to restore the planet earth to its pristine condition, to eliminate the lovelessness that leads to strife, and to persuade all men that the only path to happiness in this life is the path of love entire.

Wednesday, 11/11/98 10:50PM

The wonder of man is in his striving. Man is born to each life with full intention to prove to himself and to all souls the worth of his being in the free exercise of will. In the best of times man finds himself surrounded by souls who, filled with awareness, are destined to succeed in all striving, to progress fully in the path to perfection. This is an ideal world. Not all earthly lives know this idyllic environment. Not all men find the path to perfection so straight and narrow and swift. Indeed, the earthly journey is marked by much diversity and this diversity is one of design.

It is not only difficult for humans to encompass in their understanding the diverse patterns of human existence, it is not easy to discern pattern and reason in the enormous disparities man knows in his life on this earth. There is reason to question. Why, one asks, is man given so little and asked so much. Why, one asks, is man given so much and asked so little? These questions deal only with the superficial and fail completely to deal with the full meaning of life.

Human life is both a triumph and a trial. Man comes to this world with capacities adequate to do all he has agreed to do in this life. He comes with full awareness that his will is supreme, that he can do anything in this worldly experience that will either serve to advance or to delay his spiritual progress, progress which relies completely on his fulfilling the compact made before his incarnation. Man, in pursuit of human happiness may succumb to the temptations of this world and err in his choices. He may seek happiness in ways destined to disappoint. He may abandon the search for perfection that is his divine goal and pursue earthly delights, delights that are destined to disappoint.

Man, however misled he may become in his earthly striving, never loses his connection with the divine origin that is his. In all his errors he retains the purity of his origin, and no matter how sullied this purity may become, no matter the enormity of human error, man is never lost. Over and over again he is not only permitted but indeed is required to continue the search for spiritual perfection. His journeys may seem endless, but they are not, for there is an end, and that end earned inevitably in the perfection of love that is the goal of all souls. No more does man strive when he reaches the end of his last effort. All glory is his. He knows love perfect in all respects. He has come home in perfect peace.

Saturday, 12/5/98 11:56PM

Man in all his strengths and all his weaknesses knows that he is not fully in charge of his destiny. He knows that he is allowed choice. Indeed choice is demanded of him. Yet time after time he is faced with decisions totally unexpected. He needs to choose between alternatives he has never considered. At times he needs to choose between belief in two individuals opposing in their will to persuade him. At times he feels he has no choice at all, that circumstances have so overwhelmed him that he must do as he is commanded and surrender will completely. At times man is deprived entirely of choice in that he has no awareness of it.

The most fortunate of souls know a fullness of peace in their spiritual progression. Their lives are so ordered that they are aware of each step they take to the perfection that their soul hungers for. Others, although progressing steadily, are not as aware of how well they do. These are modest souls, devoted to all those bound to them in love, dedicated to good, and yet unaware of all the wonder that they are.

In all of life there is plan and pattern, and into this divine plan all souls find their place. Those who know long and protracted lives, often fraught with pain and instability, are blessed with hope that they have chosen well, that each painful step of their journey brings them closer to the divine culmination that they seek. Those who lead lives less trying have equal reason to expect fulfillment. They seek in love and they find in love all that the soul needs and yearns for.

There is a beauteous order in this progression of the soul from imperfection to perfection, and each human journey contributes to this progression. The soul achieving immortality is the soul who had trod many paths and in each of them found reason to be pleased, and when the final journey ends in glorious acceptance into the oneness of divine belonging, there is no greater glory. This awaits all men.

Sunday, 1/3/99 11:12PM

In all of time there has been consistency in the human experience.

From the very beginning there was a single demand made of man in earthly existence and that single demand was that he know the expression of love in each aspect of his life. This was and is at all times a simple demand, and yet since the start of human existence man has not found it possible to succeed fully in meeting this single demand.

In answer to this significant failure in man we must consider that among his many gifts he was at all times granted the supreme gift of free will. From the very start of earthly existence, God found it wise and good than man know this gift. He was at all times aware that there was peril in this power, but in His full faith in man He was confident that free will would be a source of good at all times.

Man, in his weakness, mistook this gift for good for a gift for indulgence. He neglected to listen closely to his inner voices and felt instead a need to break free from the boundaries that tied him to his divine origin. He felt within himself strivings to defy the limitations inherent in his humanness and to exceed all limitations. He made material pleasure his goal and he strove to achieve and enjoy earthly pleasure at the expense of all else. He forgot.

In His infinite goodness God regarded this aberrant behavior as a temporary error. His love and forgiveness enveloped all souls regardless of their fidelity and their faithfulness to their divine origin. He welcomed awareness of error and offered unlimited and unconditional forgiveness. In the end, all souls recognized error and knew the perfection that was their inevitable destiny.

So it has been since time began, and in a world full of conflict, infinitely complex and divided, it is important that man be reminded that no matter the degree of error and distraction he will inevitably recognize the love that dominates all of human existence and forever has, and he will rejoice in the divine beneficence that all men know.

Tuesday, 1/5/99 11:55PM

In all his efforts to achieve perfection, man is aided. He is aided by those divine spirits who wished him well as he began his earthly journey. He is aided by the one who chose to journey with him and to guide him in all ways to the end of his human existence. He is aided by all those he chose to know in life and to know in the full exchange of love and caring. Thus is man blessed. Thus is he fortified to meet the trials of human life, to answer the questions put to him, to conquer temptation, to succeed in his progress.

For some this aid is not enough. Man granted the power of free will is sometimes intoxicated by this power and chooses to pursue a path that offers gratification in many ways but which as well causes him to lose sight of his original goal. He forgets that he has come to this world to know the joy of spiritual progress. He forgets that the essential element of spiritual progress is to put the giving and receiving of love above all else in his life.

Rarely does man fail to recognize his error in trusting to material gratification to achieve happiness. Most often men, having tasted the pleasures that earth offers, are aware that they have erred and they seek to recover the blessed awareness that they brought with them into earthly life. They discover anew the joys of love, both human and divine, and they hear anew the blessed voices urging them to know their full capacity to live in love.

Blessed are those who have known temptation, who have erred, and recognizing their error have come to full awareness of the true purpose of human life. Blessed are those who have aided and directed those erring souls back to the comfort of love, of giving without condition, and of receiving without reservation.

All of heaven rejoices when man pursues the path he has promised to take in full awareness of its significance.

Sunday, 1/10/99 8:28PM

In all of life man knows the luxury of choice. At times this freedom appears less a luxury than a burden, but at all times it is a gift he learns to cherish, a gift that at all times meets his needs.

There are times when choice is painful, when man feels inadequate to choose, to distinguish the path he should take. There are times when man chooses unthinkingly, when he gives no thought because he attributes no importance to his decision. At times those decisions made without awareness of their importance become significant in the light of all that follows.

It is important, then, that man be aware at each moment of his life of the need to be thoughtful in response to all that life demands. Each and every step of the way through life offers opportunity for choice, and in each and every choice man needs to be guided by the single demand of him in this life. He needs to consider carefully what love demands. Even when it is most difficult to respond in love, this is indeed exactly what is needed for spiritual progress.

Man is not always aware of the central demand of his life, the absolute need to progress to the perfection of love that is the goal of all souls come to life. Even when he is not aware of its vital significance, man knows in his innermost soul that full expression of love is the key to earthly happiness, and once he knows the joy of a loving way of life he knows the key to happiness.

No more is demanded. No more need be sought, but all too often man is offered this opportunity to know the way and fails to respond. In these cases, man must assess his errors and his motives in full awareness that what he seeks is freely offered and demands only his commitment.

Wednesday, 1/20/99 11:25PM

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.

Monday, 1/25/99 11:45PM

For all his good intentions, man tends to error in his earthly adventure. Generally man's errors are not serious violations of all he has promised to do and to achieve in life, but they tend to distract him from all that is central to his spiritual well being.

Man, caught up in the material demands of daily life, excuses himself from consideration beyond the material all too often. In so doing he deprives not only himself but those dependent upon him for loving guidance. It is not enough for man to supply and satisfy the material needs of those dependent upon him in any way, though this is indeed a central responsibility. No, it is incumbent upon man to perceive needs beyond the material and to seek to satisfy the emotional and spiritual needs of all who look to him for guidance and inspiration.

Man when he becomes aware of this need becomes enriched. He realizes the significance of his role in this life and rejoices in its importance. It takes little consideration for him to realize the privilege that this responsibility represents. He becomes aware that it is incumbent upon him to live his life in example and to teach by example. He finds it gratifying that those he loves feel his worthiness and seek to emulate all he represents.

It is difficult to express fully the profound impact a single individual can have on a family group or any other group bound by ties of kinship and love. The example of the one they regard with reverence and respect and whose will they follow serves all well, and the goodness that each learns is shared infinitely.

Man is meant to learn and to lead, to share and to demand, to seek and to find, and in all he does he is blessed in his caring of those who look to him for guidance and for love.

Thursday, 2/25/99 11:57PM

From the very start of time, from the first faint stirrings of life on earth, there has been a divine presence and plan in the governing of the universe. This plan has not always known perfect execution but it has known always divine governance.

The soul come to earth knows great power in the exercise of free will. He knows a sense of independence that serves him well when he listens to the dictates of his heart that speak of the importance of love. He is less well served when he ignores the goodness inherent in his nature and succumbs to worldly temptation. He fancies himself more powerful that he is in fact and he acts accordingly. Inevitably he comes to a realization of his folly in his assumptions of power and he has cause to regret abandoning the path of goodness in the full embrace of temptation.

Even when man forgets completely his relationship to the power of the divinity, even when he commits error after error, even when he forgets completely his reason for earthly existence, man is capable of recognition of error and determination to expiate and to return to the way he abandoned. There is an infinite tolerance in the divine will and all men profit thereby. No matter how far afield the soul in progress may stray, the road back to goodness and godliness is always open to him.

This is the way of the Lord, and it is at all times a blessed path.

Monday, 3/15/99 11:50PM

In the totality of a single life there is always plan and purpose. This is a concept difficult for the mortal mind, for man tends to define "purpose" narrowly. In the divine plan there are no narrow definitions, nor are there lives without purpose.

It has been said repeatedly that man comes to this life of his own accord, on terms of his own making, in full intent to live this life in such a way as to insure spiritual progress. He may choose to be born a conqueror. He may choose to live as a victim. He may choose a life lived in security and pleasure. He may choose to live a life of deprivation and hardship. He may choose to live an hour. He may choose to live a century. Not all options are open to all men at all times, but there is enormous breadth in choice. It is the divine intent that man be master of his fate both in designing that fate and in living its fulfillment.

Once committed to a life and to its pleasures and its pains, man embarks on a journey singular to him, and on his journey encounters all those who have chosen to share his earthly voyage.

There is a complexity in this divine plan that is difficult if not impossible for the human mind to comprehend, but it is regardless the truth absolute and immutable that there is a community of souls divinely endowed that is always accorded the soul come to life. He does not come as a stranger into an alien environment. He is never alone. Rather his choice of life is a choice made in full awareness of all those who will share this journey in full appreciation of how they will affect his experience for good or for bad.

Some men come to life as a stranger to those who come to be part of his experience on planet earth. He knows beforehand the nature of his life and the nature of his relationships, and it becomes his duty and his pleasure to live the chosen life in full awareness of his accepted responsibilities. These responsibilities are varied in nature and in demand, but always they provide the soul in progress with a stability. He knows what he must do to succeed and he knows full well the pleasure that is accorded him when he accepts and fulfills all promises made before his advent into human life. He is well served by the awareness granted to him and well served by all the strength he knows in achieving even the most difficult of goals.

Tuesday, 3/16/99 11:34PM

However he is fashioned, the soul come to earth is a manifestation of divine love. It is man's tendency to look upon his brother and to assume that the most perfect by earthly standards is the most perfect by divine standards. While this may be the case in some instances, the vast majority of humans do not fully reflect their spiritual richness in their earthly attributes. Often the most perfectly gifted spiritually are the least gifted materially.

It is understandable that man makes this erroneous assumption, but even in the short span of his life he becomes aware of the error in his early assumption. It is his good fortune that he learns of the fallibility of those who are most gifted and the most generously endowed. It is his blessing when he embraces fully the truth that material blessings are not necessarily fortunate, that often the most deprived of men is the richest.

In his striving man often knows confusion. He knows in his heart that his basic instinct to seek after goodness and giving should govern all the acts of his life. At the same time he feels that he is expected to succeed in ways that will win worldly praise and material reward. In his innermost soul man finds wisdom and chooses wisely, and once he does he knows release from concern and anxiety and he is free to know total pleasure in his decision. There is infinite tolerance for human error, but there is as well infinite pleasure in the soul come to ultimate truth, and in the days of human existence man knows endless possibilities to achieve that central goal.

Let it be known always that man is master of his fate in all the ways that matter in the pure progression to perfection.

Friday, 4/16/99 10:42PM

All through life's journey, man is possessed by a single passion and that passion is love.

In its purest form this love is like a blanket enveloping in its warmth all those who choose to share an earthly journey and who wish to live each day of this voyage in the full embrace of love given and received. They find in each other reassurance and confirmation of the power of love to transform lives. They become aware that love is the solace when man encounters need and deprivation. They find that love is the nourishment that restores the soul tried by trial to full health. They know that love is the infinite wonder that creates in man an awareness not to be denied of his infinite worth and infinite belonging. It tells him that he is bound in the most precious of ways to all who care for him and whose welfare is his concern.

When love links soul to soul in the earthly journey, no error is possible, no road is ill taken. When man abandons or discards the love offered to him, he harms himself and those who are affected by his disaffection. No matter how long the journey back from disaffection, man finds himself returning to the comfort of love shared under all circumstances. He learns that there is no substitute for love.

This is a lesson that serves man well.

Saturday, 4/17/99 10:50PM

It is the utmost in human life, beloved children, to know the full beneficence of love bestowed upon those pilgrims who seek in earthly existence to know love fulfilled and to satisfy all that is demanded of them in their earthly striving.

It is not a simple voyage that all souls take. Rather it is a voyage of trial and challenge, fraught with difficulty and with challenge, a voyage trying and gratifying at the same time, a challenge unmistakable in its origin, acceptable in its execution, inevitable in its finality.

Love touches all souls in their earthly journey. Love motivates all those who seek to find the final answer to the reason for being. Love does not always succeed in animating the human heart, but always it strives to do so.

Why should love know such limitation? Why should love fail to prevail in the face of all less pure and good? Why should man surrender when he could triumph in the face of sure success? These queries find answers in and of themselves. They offer no mysteries. They lend themselves to simple solution. They seek the mind. They evade the soul. They ask questions. They do not offer answers beyond those already given, and yet these answers cry out for response.

Love is an extension of divine will. It answers always to the strivings of the soul that seeks expression. It responds always to the need the soul knows of hunger and need. It survives always in the need met, the hunger satisfied, the wondrous response that it elicits.

Be pleased, all you who seek, with the infinite wonder of responsive love. Rejoice in its warmth. Respond to its demand. Be part of its demand for total fulfillment and total belonging. You need no more, for you know all.

Sunday, 4/25/99 11:20PM

When man grows weary of life, he is tempted to be despairing, to think that all his efforts have been in vain, that all his suffering has gone unnoticed, that all he has strived for is of no avail. It is at this point precisely that man has overwhelming need to remember his origins, to know with absolute certainty that his life knows reason and promise that under no circumstances should he surrender his right to life.

All men have the capacity to know in moments of hopelessness that they are creatures of hope, of divine intention, of powers beyond their immediate awareness. When life seems to offer them so little that they cry out for help, this is the moment that their need is met. No man need feel without the capacity to meet the trials of life and to emerge from each difficult experience more able to contend with challenge. It is man's lot to cope with all those difficulties in his life that he felt capable of solving. His divine compact encompassed all that challenges him and gives to him the strength to triumph. He is able at all times to emerge victorious from all those struggles in the full awareness of strength given and promises kept.

Each man facing the problems of life is fully armed. He knows in his innermost being that all that is demanded of him is within his capacity. He knows that his response is all that is demanded and that each time he responds in love without condition he is strengthened. He is aware in his responsiveness of love given and received and of blessings untold.

Man in his journey through life is blessed beyond measure in strength granted, in love unmeasured, in total and complete guidance to the goal that all souls seek. There is no greater blessing.

Wednesday, 5/19/99 1:34AM

It is supremely significant that man, endowed as he is with divine capacities, know the reason and reasonableness of human existence. Since time began, this question has been the one most often asked by those in their earthly experience. Many answers have been suggested. None have been totally correct in every detail.

Early man felt that he owed homage to the earth, to him the source of all life, and to those deities who supplied him with the necessities of life -- light, water, power. In all of his existence early man sought to seek approval of the powers he felt responsible for all the forces of good, and he felt a need to appease all those powers he regarded as responsible for evil. In both cases man's response was born in fear and was fostered by fear. He knew in his heart the munificence of love, but he treated this emotion with reserve and reverence and never was it totally squandered. Yet in all of his growing awareness of the responsiveness of the powers that defied understanding, did man consider himself closely related and therefore powerful unto himself.

Through the centuries man progressed to an understanding of the power of nature and of his own powers, and he came to conclude that his were the greater powers, though he needed always to live in full awareness of the natural powers beyond his control.

Thus man came into understanding of himself. He came to be aware of the force he represented, and he came to respect the limitations of that force. He came to recognize the equal powers of others and to be both glad and respectful of those powers, willing in his awareness to both ask and accept, to give and to receive all that was needful to live in harmony.

So man progressed, one step at a time, at all times aware of the glory of the journey.

Thursday, 5/27/99 11:58PM

In all of life man is aware of the power of his will. This power is a full responsibility of each soul in progress and when well used assures man and all those bound to him in earthly life of love and joy.

This power is at times and to some seductive and capable of causing unhappiness and harm to many. It is all too easy for man to begin to consider himself far more powerful than he really is and to act in a destructive manner to please himself at the expense of all others.

History is replete with examples of free will misused and abused. The world has suffered thereby, and those seeking power at all costs without regard for their responsibilities have found in the end that their despotism was in vain. They have tarnished their souls, caused great suffering, impeded their spiritual progress, and finally know the bitter taste of despair and defeat. They are in the end in all cases forced to recognize the emptiness of their earthly triumphs and the evanescent nature of their fame. They know infinite regret.

On the other hand, man may and most often does utilize his capacity to make decisions large and small with the absolute need for love as his motivating force. By eschewing power he gains power, and in the process both enriches and nourishes both himself and all those affected by his decisions and his actions. Such men rarely know regret even in the slightest degree, and when they look upon their greedy brothers condemned by their own actions they feel pity and an intense need to compensate.

Thus man endowed with this gift of free will is at all times capable of choice. Though he may feel that his choices are limited, he has always the significant choice of whether to act in self interest at the expense of others or to act in love in the hope that he will benefit himself and all those affected by his choice.

Wednesday, 6/9/99 11:40PM

All men know the greatness of their being.

To some this awareness comes early in earthly life and serves them well in all their endeavors. They know a steady faith in their capacities which serves them well, and the wisest of this privileged group seek to spend their talents in ways that express the love and concern for others that is part of their very existence.

Others born with talents that serve them well in the ways of the world suffer from a lack of awareness as to their obligations to others. Sometimes this lack of awareness is short lived and they find themselves enriched when they learn the basic obligation to live in love and become freshly aware of the source of earthly happiness.

Some souls stray completely and misuse their talents. They become eventually aware of the lack in their lives and seek to learn the lessons of love. Few who are so motivated fail in their quest.

What, you ask, is the reason for failure to live lives of love freely given and gratefully received if all souls come to earth are capable of meeting the challenges of life with the fullness of love in their patience and in their response? For this answer we return to the truth that along with his capacity to live fully and lovingly in the face of hardship and challenge, man comes to human life possessed of free will, a capacity to choose at all times the course of conduct, the emotional response, the acceptance or rejection of responsibility that he deems in his best interest. Man is not always wise in his choices of will freely expressed. He is granted the right absolute to choose, but he is equally free to ignore the wisdom and guidance that is equally freely offered to him. Thus man strays and the world suffers.

There are times when it is difficult to reconcile the suffering man may cause to others with the love eternal of a caring God. It is at such times that the trusting soul realizes the ephemeral nature of earthly suffering and the eternal nature of the soul come to life on earth. There is infinite joy in this awareness and acceptance, and the most difficult of human journeys becomes a triumphant procession. Thus is love given and received.

Monday, 6/14/99 11:54PM

When man first seeks to understand the nature of his earthly experience he finds it difficult to find worthy answers. He is often so beset with difficulty that he begins to feel comfort in believing that life is a gigantic error, nature gone astray, and that the random cruelty he feels governs his world has no cause, no reason. Even those whose lives are easier in the distribution of earthly advantages find themselves perplexed by the world they see about them. They contrast their own well being with the deprivation known by others and conclude that there is no reason to life, that chance prevails at all times.

Most men pursue their search for truth and find alternative convictions more pleasing to their need to find reason and comfort in their approach to life. Some find simple answers in the persuasion of religious leaders who call upon them to have faith in the face of contradiction and despair. Others find in logic and scientific method assurance that the world, however disordered it may seem, possesses a divine balance and in this divine balance suggests beneficent power and a true order in existence.

In all of his wondering, man follows a path that will eventually bring him to a true realization both of the order of the universe and the reason for his existence. For some this final reconciliation comes early and permits man to leave peaceably in the face of seeming contradiction and apparent inequity. Some never reach a state of acceptance and understanding in this life and die puzzled and unhappy. They leave this world with questions unanswered and doubts unresolved. It is their joy to discover that understanding is always granted to the seeking soul, to some earlier, to some only after the end of mortal life.

It matters not when man reaches full comprehension of the meaning of his earthly life. It is important only that this understanding is denied to no soul in progress. All know eventually the answers to all they have sought to know and all rejoice equally in this gift.

Tuesday, 6/22/99 12 midnight

It is at all times apparent to those seeking after truth that their search is wholly pleasing in the sight of God and all those who attend Him. Always such a search is blessed in its intent and blessed in all ways that lead to enlightenment.

Man is born with a hunger to understand his origins. In its simplest form, this hunger is satisfied by achieving awareness of his earthly heritage. He takes pride in uncovering the secrets of his antecedents and delights in full awareness of those who came before him in familiar lines and lead to his creation. Some societies hold this awareness of heritage sacred in their rituals and in their celebrations of the wonder that is man. Such awareness is enriching both to the society and to its individuals.

More far reaching is man's hunger to know where he fits in the larger picture. More intense is this search and more difficult in its achievement of awareness and certainty in this awareness. Once again man often relies upon the teachings of those he is led to respect and accept in faith taught by those whose duty it was since birth to nurture and to instruct. When this early learning leaves man unsatisfied, he reaches out in other directions and seeks to quiet his troubled soul.

Often man learns best by observation. He studies those whose lives touch his, even remotely, and he finds in these lives a pattern which seems to offer answers. He observes that the happiest of men are those whose lack of concern with material advantage leaves them free to lead rich emotional and spiritual lives, to seek to find happiness by creating it in others.

Once man has achieved this awareness, it is a small step for him to be moved to emulation and to discover for himself the joy there is in giving and sharing, and he starts a new existence. This joyous appreciation of the nature of life brings with it new awareness of its meaning and new realization of the wonder of his origins.

Thursday, 6/24/99 12:03AM

There are those blessed souls on the last part of their journey to perfection who are as beacons who seek to know truth and fulfillment. Not all those blessed souls are easy to distinguish in the complexity of human life. Some are timid and modest, shrinking from revelation of their goodness. Some are bold, defying the challenges that confront them in full faith that all they seek to accomplish will come to be.

Man, in his innocence, is less aware of these spiritual guides than he chooses to be. He thinks in the full faith in his own capacities that he does not need to hear the voices that speak to him from his innermost being. He at first accepts and then rejects the alienation they suggest that is and has been repugnant to his existence. He knows good from evil and he freely rejects evil in favor of good. He is instantly enriched in this decision. He is, theretofore, an integral part of the divine plan. His role is his to accept or reject. His fortune hinges upon this choice, for in acceptance he finds progress; in rejection he finds delay. I go further. He is able to advance as he is destined to progress in the most immediate of ways. In acceptance he advances. In rejection he regresses.

It is true that not all souls learn equally, that some who choose to ignore the dictates of their hearts find themselves questioning and learning long before they envisioned. Conversely those, in some degree, who considered themselves open and accepting find within themselves reservations and restrictions to the love they know is significant in their material progress.

Thus man suffers in his choices and from this suffering grows enriched.

Sunday, 7/11/99 11:50PM

Whenever man strays from the path he has determined to take in his earthly journey, many options are his. He may in the exercise of his free will depart completely or partially from all that he has promised to achieve in his earthly experience. He can go so completely astray that his hope of finding his way back to the path of goodness diminishes with each act and with each word. He can be so completely seduced that he is lost to the influence of all those who seek his response, to all those devoted to his well being.

It is a sad but true fact that man armed with all the strengths and awareness necessary to full achievement of his goals is capable of failure in his earthly endeavors. It is an unfortunate fact that man fails to heed the urging of those who cherish him and wish him well and instead heeds the voices of seduction and destruction which lure him to earthly power and pleasure and slowly strip him of those attributes that mark him as a creature of love and caring.

The world suffers from such disaffection, and those who are most directly affected by this disaffection suffer the most. Man, when he forgets that all men are his brothers, is capable of cruelty that defies description, and his path to the perfection he came to seek is lost in self gratification in all ways. He lusts for power and delights in any manifestation of that power regardless of its effect on others.

Such power is short lived, however devastating its results, as all of life is short lived, and the soul gone so completely astray realizes eventually the horror of his responsibility and the absolute burden of guilt that is his. Unless this recognition comes to him in time for redress of all error, he takes this burden with him across the threshold of death, and then comes the full realization of the grievousness of his errors.

No error, however great, no cruelty, however deliberate and devastating, escapes recognition. Let it be comfort to those who suffer in their earthly existences to know this truth, and let them rejoice in their patience and forbearance. Let them feel pity for their tormentors, for they are the triumphant.

Thursday, 7/29/99 11:59PM

So long as man survives in earthly existence, he survives with a purpose clear and defined. He may succeed fully in his promises and fulfill in every way his chosen purpose in his earthly existence. He may, on the other hand, be so misled in this path through life that he succeeds not at all and at the end of life must confess to utter failure. Most men's lives fall between these two extremes, and offer a mixture of success and failure in their ultimate judgment of themselves.

Man, as he proceeds through life meeting challenges and opportunities for good or for bad, is not always aware either of his own capacities to choose and act wisely or of the temptations that lure him from the path that profits him in spiritual growth. It must be noted, however, that man is ultimately totally in charge of his own destiny. He has the strength and the insight to choose wisely, to cope with all difficulty in a spirit of loving acceptance, and to know the inner satisfaction of a life well lived.

On the other hand, his free will allows him to surrender to temptation, to so indulge himself in earthly pleasures and desires that he loses his sense of duty and rightness and pursues a path that takes him ultimately to a realization of his folly. If he persists, he will find within himself the strength and the resolve to compensate for past errors, to undo past wrongs, and to know the inner happiness of a life lived in awareness of the importance of love in each and every act each and every day that remains to him.

The glory of man is never more apparent than in his exercise of free will for good. All profit, most of all the soul who has become newly aware of the wonder of its exercise.

Thursday, 8/5/99 11:55PM

During the course of his life, whether it be brief or it be extended even beyond the average, man spends each day in search of the reason for existence. Sometimes this searching knows no name, has no awareness, but exists as a single simple desire for awareness not readily at hand. These questions do not necessarily extend beyond the borders of human existence. Yet their sincerity is no less perfect than the searching of the most profound of minds, the most scholarly of seekers.

In his desire to understand more fully the reason and purpose of his journey from birth to death, man seeks answers in many places. Sometimes he achieves profound awareness of the blissful nature of a life lived in love and a life destined for survival in the perfection of oneness. Sometimes man seeks in vain for clear and coherent answers easily assimilated and understood, and in this seeking he may ignore messages more oblique and subtle. These messages may be sudden insights, instantly received, quickly dismissed. They may be persistent urgings, not reasonable in all outward ways, but intent in their insistence. Man in responding to those insistent messages may stumble upon understanding heretofore unheld or he may be led down a path different and suitable to reaching his goal of understanding.

All men are enriched in their efforts to achieve fuller understanding. What they may tend to forget and what they must strive constantly to keep in mind is the absolute need to accept all that life offers in loving exchange and seeking, and to know that all striving to appreciate the divine nature of man and life is blessed indeed and inevitably successful in providing the peace of mind that is the reward of all holiness.

Wednesday, 8/18/99 11:53PM

It is at times difficult for man to understand why life should be fraught with error and why man should suffer trial and tribulation even when he has done nothing but live in love.

It is understandable that man should be perplexed in all he considers of the nature of suffering in human existence. It is understandable that he should wonder why a kind and loving God would permit such misery to be visited upon His children, why He could not spare them completely from suffering of any kind.

This is reasonable speculation. Yet if man does accept that each single life is but part of a larger whole, and that each soul come to earth comes in need of learning and healing, all the trials of life become more reasonable even if not totally comprehensible in human terms. Certainly human life is marked by paradox. Some lives are long; some are brief. Some lives are marked by plenty, others by woeful deprivation. Some lives end peacefully, others in chaos, suffering or natural disaster.

All these differences are meaningless except insofar as the path the soul takes, however painful, offers opportunity for spiritual progress. Hardship becomes less onerous when man considers it opportunity for learning. So it is in all lives, and man beset by difficulty finds himself both comforted and encouraged by this awareness.

Sunday, 8/29/99 10:47PM

In all of time man has not succeeded fully in his search for answers to his questions about the nature and meaning of a single human life. He has been perplexed by the diversity in human existence, by the inequities involved. He wonders why one man knows wealth and good fortune in all other ways and why another knows need, destitution and hopelessness. He wonders where he truly fits into this puzzling and complicated world. He wonders why.

It is to man's credit that his caring leads to a hunger for understanding. It is to his credit that he seeks truth and understanding and patiently waits for enlightenment. Some men reach conclusions that satisfy their need to know, and these conclusions, though varying widely, mark an end of speculation. Other hungry souls never are satisfied with inadequately proven answers and they chafe at the degree of their uncertainty. They crave knowledge absolute and they are thwarted in this need. In the end they find it necessary to either surrender to uncertainty or to settle for less than the absoluteness of faith they sought and to accept answers to them less than persuasive.

Though it is not ever necessary for man to know certainty in all that life involves, it is both admirable and desirable for man to seek truth in all aspects of human existence and to find his heart filled with faith in his convictions. Not all answers are readily available, but the seeking soul will find satisfaction adequate to its need.

Friday, 9/10/99 11:56PM

There is infinite understanding granted to man in this earthly experience. He is allowed to choose always, not only what he does and says, but the spirit in which he acts and speaks. He is clearly able at all times to choose both. To man's credit, more often than not he chooses well and acts with the purest of motives, that of the desire to express love, and to his further credit his actions are marked by a spirit of caring and generosity, of a desire to inspire love and to satisfy others' need for love expressed freely and fully.

Yet man is at all times a fallible creature, subject to temptation and momentary weakness. He is at all times able to choose, but there are times when he errs in his choices and acts in a way destructive to his spiritual well being and perhaps injurious to others. On these occasions he is aware of his error, and more often than not anxious to mend his ways and compensate for error. Forgiveness is always his, if not on a human level, on a divine level. There is infinite understanding in this forgiveness, and the sensitive soul will find in his awareness of divine acceptance the capacity to forgive himself and to know that in error and atonement there is value in learning.

The soul thus enriched is stronger in its capacity to resist future temptation and to know in this increased strength divine favor. For this he is grateful.

Thursday, 9/23/99 11:49PM

In his infinite wisdom man is capable of grasping divine truth. He needs only to seek, to open his mind and heart and to accept gladly all his perception tells him. All men come to earth in search of spiritual perfection know a hunger for enrichment in all aspects of their being. They are grateful for all they are given in material advantage, but reject full satisfaction in this alone. They are granted insight that tells them that true satisfaction and ultimate fulfillment lie not in material wealth but in spiritual richness.

Not all men are equally blessed with this awareness. Not all men seek truly. Yet no man lacks completely the capacity for spiritual insight and spiritual hunger. All men possess souls of infinite perfection. This gift demands a commensurate response, and each step in spiritual progress brings man closer to this inevitable perfection.

When man realizes the simplicity of spiritual progress, he knows the joy of realizing that the key to all inner happiness, to all spiritual richness, to all meaningful achievement is his capacity for love unconditional in nature, infinite in its generosity, blissful in its pleasure.

Once man has learned the lesson of love, he needs no more to know true earthly happiness and the progression to spiritual perfection that is the ultimate achievement of all souls.

Saturday, 9/25/99 11:45PM

From his very first breath to his last, man lives a life divinely governed.

This is not to say that man is asked to exist governed by a power which imposes upon him the nature and duration of his human existence, but rather to say that man before coming to this human existence is divinely empowered to determine the life he will lead in all its aspects. With this gift he is able to determine the path of life best suited to his need for spiritual progress. He is as well endowed with free will which permits him great choice in the extent to which he follows the path he deemed wise and profitable spiritually or to stray from this path in distraction and diversion.

Man's free choice is not infinite, but rather controlled by his material existence. He is always able to choose among alternatives offered to him, but the true significance of free will is his choice to choose wisely in the light of what love demands of him. Man often forgets this central necessity in his choice and must often learn of his error in pain and anguish, but always, to his dying day and beyond, he is afforded the opportunity to correct error and to return to the path of love he was meant to follow.

Thus man not only chooses his destiny, but he is allowed infinite error in failure to learn and to progress. He is not allowed to fail in his search for spiritual perfection. Always he must continue to seek.

Sunday, 2/14/99 11:40PM

In all the history of man, much has been written of his origins, much has been written of his reason for being. Much truth has emerged from all this seeking after truth born in introspection enriched by deep thought. All that has been written heretofore reflects man's insecurity rather than his faith in himself and in his fellow man. This is not to denigrate the honesty of the seeking or the integrity of the conclusions of those seeking to promulgate, but it is rather to suggest that their authority and their right to acceptance is far from absolute.

Man in all his limitations seeks to find truth in exploration of physical data. He seeks to write from the mind, carefully sifting fact so as to arrive at empirical truth. Let it be said that while there is reason and justification in all of such searching for factual truth, fact will not suffice. Let it be said that man approaches arrogance when he states with any degree of certainty that he has insights beyond the ordinary about the origin and the reason for human existence. It is not surprising that these scholars finding truth for themselves find themselves frequently in conflict with their fellow seekers. This conflict becomes a rich resource for scholarship, and endless dissertation and dissection ensues.

Truth may perhaps find its way through this tortuous world of text and citation, but only partially and not without distortion. There is much energy expended and much energy dissipated, and even as scholarly dispute provides endless discussion, man becomes lost in the finite nature of all that is argued.

Shall we say that there is no acceptable reason for such wasted energy, for such pointless scholarship? Indeed we cannot, however tempting it may be, for all those involved bring to their academic quest sincerity and good intention, and if all do not achieve the final answers they seek they are not thereby easily dismissed. All seekers after truth are worthy, but it is easy to get lost in minutiae and to miss the ultimate truth.

Wednesday, 6/21/00 10:55PM - Lessons

Each man come to earth of his own free will comes with purpose. He comes to learn lessons heretofore unlearned. He comes to perfect his capacity for love perfect in all ways. He comes to rejoice in his love for all those sharing his earthly journey and to share with them the progress they all seek. No man come to human life lacks purpose.

It is all too easy to dismiss this divine truth that all human experience has reason and purpose. The world on superficial examination seems a confused and faulty place, riven with strife, unfair in its gifts and deprivations, confused in its direction. These conclusions are dangerous insofar as they contain enough truth to make it reasonable to believe in chance rather than plan and in a capricious world subject to no firm design. Those who fall into the temptation of abandoning faith in reason find themselves both despairing and deprived of purpose. Their days are darkened by doubt and despair, and even when life affords them sweet rewards, they suffer.

The wise man eventually finds his escape from doubt and despair in surrender. He comes to the conclusion that he expects too much in full understanding of the nature of life and death and purpose and direction and finds peace in the full enjoyment of all he is granted in human satisfaction and achievement. If he succeeds in knowing the central importance of love, even without understanding of its nature and its purpose, he finds himself released from doubt and despair and joyful in full embrace of all he knows in earthly experience.

All excerpts are quoted from “The Divine Nature of Man” with the one exception designated from “Lessons”

© 2010 Cornelia Silke dba New Light Publishing