Friday, 3/24/00 11:40PM - Lessons

Between birth and death lie the lessons man has come to earthly life to learn and to teach.

It is important for man to remember the duality implicit in that term "given and received." There is always in life a need for response to each lesson that life offers. Each action as well as each word has consequences, and both the action and the consequences are instructive. When one soul in progress acts in a loving manner and speaks loving words, there is of necessity response. The soul acting and speaking is the giver. Those responding are the receivers. Both are learning.

Yet responses may vary. It is possible to reject love offered. It is possible to deny and belittle and to scorn the offered love. In such cases there is learning, however bitter it may be, and the soul whose offer of love is rejected has no choice but to recognize the error of the one who has so spurned this love and to realize that even in folly there is opportunity to learn and opportunity for self enrichment in the further pursuit of shared love even at the risk of further rejection.

Even in tragic loss there is learning. The soul learns acceptance of hardship and desolation and learns the strength inherent in this acceptance and pursues life with new awareness of increased capacity to meet the challenges that follow. Even repeated loss and prolonged hardship are inevitably strengthening experiences, and the soul so tried finds new awareness of worth with each loving triumph.

Not all of life is concerned with tragedy and loss, or even with acute hardship, but it must be remembered by all men that the fabric of life is designed by each man returning to earthly existence, and that strengths and talents are measured carefully to insure capability of meeting all challenges. Where there is weakness, that too is the choice of the returning soul whose intent is to survive this weakness in the sure faith that it is useful in teaching others.

In all, the fabric of human life is divinely designed, and designed to permit man to reach his full potential in the achievement of spiritual perfection by both teaching and learning the lessons of love.

THE NATURE OF HUMAN LIFE
Revelations

There is much in life that defies understanding. Man comes into this world as into a school. He comes of his own volition to learn and to teach. He comes with full awareness of his mission and with full intent to meet all challenges with steadfast faith and love. He knows fully the import of his response. He is aware of the need to accept the trials and tribulations of this life and to profit thereby.

All lives are fraught with trial, some more obviously so, but all try man's capacity. In every case only response is significant. The greatest trial is no more significant that the least in its import. No man fully understands the nature of another's life. No man can judge the quality of another's inner existence. The most tormented of souls often lives a life of cheerful acquiescence.

In all of human existence chance plays a part. Man is totally in control of his response to all that he suffers, but he can not always control the nature of that suffering. There are times when a chance decision becomes a fateful one. There are times when catastrophe brings an untimely end to human existence. In such cases, man is hard pressed to either accept or understand the vagaries of human existence. Yet he has little choice but to do so, and in this very acceptance comes a measure of learning. The very brevity of life's journey becomes clear whether measured in months or decades.

Once man reaches acceptance of human life as no more than a stage in his spiritual evolution, it becomes easier for him to know that no matter the length of a single life, no matter the degree of difficulty of that life, man achieves to a greater or lesser degree what he came to this earth to achieve. His success is measured not in length or quality of this earthly journey but in his response to each and every choice. The human spirit is capable of infinite love. The soul knows this. The mind sometimes forgets.

Saturday, 3/11/00 11:57PM - Lessons

Without exception, man born into eternal life comes to learn. Even those blessed souls come to earth of their own goodness and generosity, those perfect beings who need no longer to labor in the pursuit of perfection, even these perfect beings experience the joy of learning in their mission to share divine love with those whose need is great.

Let it be known that earth is rich with these blessed spirits, souls who have achieved perfect love and divine oneness who choose to leave the heavenly plane with no motivation but that of sharing their perfection, of teaching struggling souls to learn by their experiences and to reach the generosity of love that is essential to spiritual progress.

It can be said without contradiction that each soul come to earth knows the devoted caring of one of these heavenly beings. It can be further asserted that the soul in progress at each forward step in his passage through life owes all guidance to this angel he has the right to call his own. Often man, disbelieving in all things spiritual or religious, is sharply reminded of his error when he knows the unmistakable presence of divine guidance and comes to new awareness of privilege.

It is often not easy for man to acknowledge that he is guided by influences beyond natural explanation, and yet even as he protests the supernatural, he knows in his soul that he does not have a quick or reasonable explanation of all his spiritual life both gives and demands of him. He knows in his heart that no rational explanation will suffice, and so, at the very least, he suspends his disbelief and asks to know the balance of right and wrong in the seeming paradox he seeks to resolve.

Most men are infinitely kind in their beings and only occasionally find themselves indulging in unloving behavior. While they may not always understand what their hearts tell them, they sense in all that their hearts speak infinite truth.

Sunday, 4/2/00 11:30PM - Lessons

It is infinite joy when man knows the blessing of sharing new life. There is nothing to compare with the advent of a new soul, a perfect being come to an imperfect world with full hope of perfecting that corner of the universe in the holy company of those who are responsible and who rejoice in his being.

This joy is one capable of lighting the lives of many. Nothing creates love in the human heart more than the sweetness of the child come to earth in the fulfillment of love both human and divine, expecting all, giving all, totally in need of love, totally giving in love. There is no more joyous time in human existence that the precious moment of new birth. There is no time more blessed than the days and weeks and months and years when this new life is nourished and cherished in love and caring freely given and hungrily received.

This love is precious in its reciprocity. Never should there be denial. Never should there be conditions. Never should the parents fail the child in the fullness of love, in the sweet discipline of guidance, in the perfection of relationship that speaks of divine origin.

There is infinite responsibility in the guidance of a new soul come to earth in the paths of goodness and giving, the nurturing a sense of infinite love of self and others, and of seeing in this perfect responsibility perfect joy.

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.

Saturday, 4/29/00 11:42PM - Lessons

There is no limit to the opportunity offered to man to succeed fully in his human existence in learning the lessons of love and thereby satisfying all demands made upon him.

Love, as I have said, can be variously defined, ranging from a kind word to a stranger, a smile of pleasure in another's company, to the deep and abiding love between two individuals, a love that spans lifetimes. There is no limit in definition to this deepest of affections. Most often it occurs within the family, the love shared by husband and wife, father and mother, and shared in turn with their children and all those who follow them in marriage and procreation.

Family love is a holy love, and it in turn should not be narrowly defined. Those who choose to share their lives and fortunes, whether in a relationship sanctified or legalized or not, are entitled to call themselves family provided that the love shared is deep and abiding. In all cases this love shared should be selfless and instructive and contagious in its expression. It should be a love of joy and fulfillment and capable of surviving all trials and finding enrichment in trials experienced and overcome.

Those who are blessed with deep commitment to family love need no further enrichment, but it is to their enormous advantage if they reach out to those outside the family and share with them their joy in loving relationships. Love expressed in acts and words of kindness enriches the spirit and nourishes all those who give and receive this expression of love.

The lessons of love are infinite in their benefit, and each expression of love engenders increased awareness of the absolute necessity of love to insure earthly happiness. It is clear to all those devoted to a life of giving that the more love is expended the more it increases in the human heart. It enriches endlessly with each act and word of caring. It is eternal and infinite in its nature.

Friday, 5/26/00 11:35PM - Lessons

In the fullness of time, all souls will know perfection. It is difficult to imagine the villains that the earth has always known being embraced by the holy as equal in all ways, but this is exactly what is inevitable. It needs to be remembered that each soul come of his own desire to earthly life comes with the blessing of the God who loves him as His child, his dearest creation, and that all goodness is reflected in his being.

It is gratifying that so many of God's children live lives of goodness and grace, often under the most trying of circumstances. These good souls serve themselves well and go further in inspiring others to recognize the absolute need for love shared in generosity and awareness of its power. It is to be noted that these souls whose lives are marked by goodness and caring far outnumber those souls who, beguiled by temptation and seduced by the wiles of the Others forget the absolute requirement to achieve all their goals and to spiritually progress as they promised.

Indeed it becomes part of progression for those who live in love and grace to seek to rescue their wayward brothers and to persuade them of the virtues of a life lived in unselfish expressions of love. There is no limit to the effectiveness of this exemplary teaching, and there is great satisfaction when the soul gone astray is persuaded by his brother's example and persuasion to recognize and accept the compulsory nature of love given and received, expressed constantly in word and action, a love totally transforming, the sure road to earthly joy.

Sunday, 6/11/00 11:40PM - Lessons

In the annals of time, much has been given to man in instruction and insight to guide him on his way to perfect happiness and spiritual perfection. Sometimes the message has been simple and direct, clear in its mandate to love above all else and to know the divine equality among all souls in progress.

Sometimes, all too often, those who consider themselves responsible for the direction of souls in progress have gone too far in formalizing their teachings. They have created rituals that go beyond necessity, and they have complicated what is and should always be the simple mandate to act in love with doctrines of their own contrivance, superfluous to man's needs and often creating a barrier between man and his God by intervening in what should always be direct communication. All too often those who are regarded as religious authorities have set themselves above those they seek to guide and have dictated beliefs both material and political that they demand that their followers accept without question.

This is not to say that there have not been good and noble souls governing man's spiritual development. Many have resisted complication and distortion and been exemplary in their lives and in their words. They have retained the simplicity of the divine will, the demand that above all else man be guided in his earthly journey by the lesson of love, a lesson that speaks of the absolute need for love given without condition, without hesitation, without discrimination, and that this love be constantly expressed in word and deed. Man so governed knows the wholeness of his being and the wisdom of his faith, and each day of his earthly journey he knows the total joy of love received. He is blessed, and his blessing enriches all others.

Friday, 10/2/98 9:50PM - Divine Nature

There is innate in the human spirit a resiliency that defies easy explanation. In the most desperate of circumstances hope flares in the human heart and lights the way. In the most dismal of lives there is a hard core of faith that good times are coming, that there is an end to despair. Only in the most afflicted of minds does this flickering hope find itself extinguished.

It is a triumph of the human spirit that despite the most desolating of losses, the most desperate of circumstances, man finds it within himself to confront adversity and to make a new beginning. Even when this new beginning proves false and he is once more challenged to fight his way, man is capable of positive response. There is in this buoyancy and determination clear traces of the divine.

Let us consider the plight of man in this life full of challenges. Let us consider his strengths and weaknesses in this battle for survival in a hostile world. Man brings into this life all the armor he needs. He brings into this life all the strengths and weaknesses that he will know in earthly battles. He brings in somewhat the same way all the loving and not so loving relationships he will know in this life freely chosen. In all his interrelationships there is a divine plan, a plan of teaching and learning, of loving and sharing, of joy and of sorrow, of gratification and deprivation, of affirmation and denial. There is no awareness in man's mind of the significance of all his earthly experiences. The trivial may loom as earth shaking, the most significant as unworthy of comment. Yet each and every human experience from birth until death has significance in the divine plan known as human life.

Man feels in the magnitude of universal experience cause for wonder. The human mind cannot encompass such proportion. Yet the mind, the most magnificent of human instruments, is but a microcosm, a bare reflection of the power of the soul. Be aware of this human limitation, My children, even when you are most tempted to feel that the human mind knows no limits, encompasses no frontiers. Know at each instant that beyond these frontiers, and they come to each man eventually, lie truths beautiful to behold, wonders extraordinary, joy shared infinitely.

Friday, 10/16/98 10:10PM - Divine Nature

There is a time in each life of reckoning. In some lives this comes early, in others later, in the rest not until life has ceased.

Man comes to this world to learn first and then to teach. He comes with full determination to achieve the wisdom and awareness he needs to progress, and he comes with full intention of sharing all he learns and feels. It is not always an easy path to wisdom and awareness. Pitfalls abound. Problems are frequent. Intent is challenged. There are those who are enticed into the path of forgetfulness, who choose to embrace the easy pleasures of this life rather than doing all they had promised.

Into each life so led astray there comes a sense of incompleteness, eventually a sense of failure. The soul, sensing the error of its ways, seeks to understand his errors and to compensate for them. In all such cases willing spirits reach out to help. They rejoice in his new awareness and guide him back into the path of goodness abandoned for so long. Others persist in their wayward behavior to the threshold of death. Some, sensing eternity, choose to confess error when it is too late to translate wish into action, but even at this late hour, awareness brings its rewards. The soul transformed by new acknowledgment of life's erroneous deeds finds itself ready for death with full hope that the opportunity for change and expiation lies ahead.

Few men leave this earthly journey without having reached this self appraisal. Few souls blackened by error cross the threshold of death rebellious and reluctant to confess error. These are souls to be pitied. Some pursue their erroneous ways. These we call the Others. Their pleasure is in blocking the spiritual progress of others both on the earthly and on the heavenly planes. For a time they rejoice in the power of their persuasion, but eventually they too come to an awareness of the empty nature of their pursuits. They learn by bitter experience that they must change their ways and acknowledge the power, the infinite and divine power, of love in order to find peace and fulfillment.

So, My children, there is no escaping recognition of earthly error should such error intrude upon your lives and impede spiritual progress. In each and every case man is sooner or later forced to confront himself and recognize all he has done and not done in the years allotted to him.

Thus does man progress.

Sunday, 10/25/98 11:58PM EST - Divine Nature

At all times it is basic to man's nature to strive. In its purest form this striving takes form in perfect expression of love given and received. In each age since the world began there have been souls pure in intent, perfect in action, whose only concern has been to know the love that surpasses all trials and tribulations, all rejections, all denials, all unworthy responses to goodness. In each case these perfect souls have created by their actions a field of goodness that is irresistible to those directly and indirectly affected by their relationship. It matters not the nature of this perfect love. In and of itself it creates a world of awareness that is totally compelling.

These blessed souls, known and unknown throughout history exist as beacons in the history of man so often darkened by conflict. These blessed souls are often totally unrecognized for their goodness during their earthly journey, but their striving to live and teach the lessons of love has rewards far beyond recognition. Others are thrust into the limelight of historical recognition and their stories serve both to inspire those touched immediately in their lifetimes and serve as timeless inspiration for generations to come.

Examine the nature of these lives, whether recognized or not recognized within their lifetimes, and find a single chord. That chord is the music of love that knows no denial, that is infinite in its giving, that is pure in every way. In each case find a soul that loves in total joy, in ecstatic recognition of the perfection of its being, in its sure knowledge that all it does is all that is required. Find total identification with the divine.

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

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.

Saturday, 11/28/98 11:33PM - Divine Nature

In all of life there is sweetness in defeat.

Man come to earth chooses to know defeat and to find in it challenge. In this challenge he finds opportunity to discover new strength, to renew his faith in himself, and to seek and find solutions which negate this very defeat. It is not always a simple progression from defeat to acceptance to solution and therefore to triumph, but man progressing in this way becomes newly aware of the divine strength that is his always. He knows in his heart that he has learned a lesson that will serve him well always. He knows that there is no mountain he cannot climb.

Victory so achieved is the sweeter for having been achieved in full awareness of the importance of love as a weapon, a tool, if you will, to be used wisely. In all of his dealings in life, particularly in adversity, man needs to be aware that his position is strengthened infinitely when he acts in love and refuses to let discord enter his soul. Love as a weapon is disarming, and it not only soothes the soul of man in conflict, but it gives him infinite advantage over his adversary. Ideally love triumphs in its persuasiveness and both souls in conflict find happy resolution to their conflict.

Let it be said, then, that defeat has its lessons to be learned, that man experiencing conflict in his worldly affairs is enriched by the lessons he is forced to learn.

Thursday, 12/3/98 11:18PM - Divine Nature

I speak of the plight of man and of his efforts to excel in an imperfect world.

There is no question of the basic goodness of the soul come to this life as man. There is no question of his intent to do as he promised in the progression to spiritual perfection that is the goal of all souls. What, then, leads man astray? What causes him to forget his noble aims and intentions and degenerate? How can the soul intent on becoming one with His maker be capable of violence and destruction? How can he so abandon all he intended in this life?

These questions do not find easy answers. There are souls who find it difficult to cope with earthly success. There are souls who find it difficult to cope with earthly failure. These misguided souls seek to find solutions to their unhappiness, and in their seeking they abandon those loving voices which counsel patience and goodness and welcome those voices which speak of self indulgence at any cost. All men are subject to these conflicting voices. They indeed compete for the soul of man, and all too often man is seduced by the voices offering him the worldly power and pleasure he covets. He finds himself paying a high price for all he knows in material advantage. He forgets the very virtues that he brought into this life in full expectation of the happiness they promised.

Man led astray by temptation finds many paths. If he is fortunate and resistant to the excesses of a life of earthly greed, he finds a middle road where although he may at times forget all he has promised to do in this life in learning the lessons of love, he is never completely lost. He finds himself in varying ways, and although he may stray down the paths of evil doing he quickly recognizes the error of his ways and seeks to return to the righteousness that offers him moral satisfaction. Other souls find themselves so weakened by the voices of seduction that they lose all awareness of their obligations and are so lost in pursuit of material success and pleasure that they have neither the inclination nor the capacity to return to the road to goodness earlier abandoned.

There is never a point where man is totally lost in this life. He is always capable of recognition of error and resolve to reform, but all too often man passes from this life without knowing the joy he might have in a life of love shared. He leaves behind him often lives shattered by his destructive behavior and he knows at the moment of death that he has somehow failed. The extent of his failure lives after him, but after he has left this world comes the full realization of how completely he has deprived himself and so many others whose lives touched his, and he knows that he must undertake the long journey back to blessedness that is the beginning and the end of all spiritual existence. No soul is ever completely lost.

Monday, 1/25/99 11:45PM - Divine Nature

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, 2/4/99 11:00PM - Divine Nature

All of life is strewn with opportunity. This opportunity in its various forms is not always a blessing.

Man in his innocence finds it first difficult to distinguish. He embraces all opportunity to know pleasure in life, to experience the kind of success that makes daily existence more comfortable and which seems always to meet the needs of those who share his daily life. Indeed sometimes this material success, however earned or granted, does indeed result in an increased pleasure in comfort and pleasure that brings together those bound in love. There are, however, pitfalls in this kind of material mutual indebtedness. One or the other of those who share the bonds of love may decide the price paid for material advantage is too great. Then comes the sundering of the relationship, and all those involved are forced to deal with the emotional consequences.

It would be so simple if man were never given opportunity to err, if he were from birth wrapped in the cocoon of innocence and well being that is his heavenly heritage. Yet this life is not simple. It does not yield to easy theories or to easy conclusions. It is the labor of man passing through life to try to achieve perfect happiness, and those who listen closely to the blessed words of those who guide him achieve the awareness that the only access to true happiness in mortal life is through achievement of love so perfect that it defies description in human terms.

All of life is a lesson, and the man who learns this lesson early and well is the man blessed in all ways. He seeks always to foster the love that he knows is the vital force and to seek always the enlightenment that is his absolute beacon. At all times this man, beloved of his God, embodies the journey perfect through life. He is a striking example to all those who share his heritage and his destiny. All are blessed.

Friday 2/12/99 11:04PM - Divine Nature

In the short span of a human life, even if that life extends beyond average, even if it is cut sorely short, man is allowed to do all he promised before coming to this world.

There are times when it is difficult to discern purpose in human life. Most often man is puzzled by life cut short, by life overwhelmed with physical or mental disability, of life difficult to understand in terms of individual responsibility. This is not unreasonable. There is much in human existence that cries out for understanding. There is much that does not lend itself to this desired understanding. When a single life seems meaningless, whether in its brevity or in its inherent limitations, man does well to remember that all men are one. He would be well advised to examine this life, however brief, however tortured, and to ask himself to consider its effects upon all those who are touched by a relationship to this soul.

Often close examination will reveal that this individual, apparently so deprived, has important influence on all those bound to it in love and awareness. The lessons taught could, perhaps, be taught in no other way. There may be infinite beauty in the legacy of such a soul come to earth.

Above all, it behooves man to remember the transitory nature of human life and to know that in the total scheme of life and death and rebirth a day may be not that different from a decade, a decade from a century. Life is eternal in its essence.

Wednesday, 3/3/99 11:48PM - Divine Nature

In all of life there is reckoning. From the earliest days of childhood, the soul in progress becomes aware of the extent to which he is pleasing to all those whose concern is his welfare. The very young learn by this reckoning. They learn that all they do affects others. They learn that all they do affects the response of others to their actions. Ideally, the very young learn at a tender age that when their actions are loving they elicit a loving response. Thus security is established in the human heart and mind and responsibility is acknowledged and accepted.

As the child progresses into adulthood, responsibility and response becomes more complicated and the soul seeking truth and perfection is sometimes hard pressed to make the decision most beneficial to all affected. Sometimes the right decision necessitates a high degree of unselfish devotion to another. Sometimes the right decision is difficult in terms of delayed satisfaction and temporary deprivation. Yet man at all times has the capacity to do all that fills him with awareness of the rightness of all of his actions, and he has the further capacity to learn from each of his righteous decisions that there is no other choice if he is to achieve his goals and in the process know self satisfaction and the warmth of love shared.

Man knows fully that he is happy in this life only when he is loved. He knows as well that he is happiest when he knows the joy of expressing love in word and deed and of knowing joyous response. Man does not deprive himself when he gives fully to all those in need. Rather the opposite is true. He rejoices in the fullness of response that nourishes and enriches every aspect of his worldly existence. The more he gives the more he receives. The more completely he devotes himself to others' welfare and need, the less he finds himself in need.

Life offers infinite opportunity to the soul in progress to find both joy and nourishment in creating happiness for all those he encounters in life, particularly those who are the most deprived. Meeting the needs of others is for all men a source of satisfaction. Beyond this immediate reward lies great promise.

Saturday, 4/3/99 11:02PM - Divine Nature

In all aspects of life man questions. If he is subject at all times to a higher authority, no matter its nature, he finds it difficult to express the questioning that his heart knows. In time, if ignored, this quest for truth comes to dismiss easy answers and to risk alienation and rejection by pursuing the pure goals that first inspired.

When man embarks upon this questing and questioning path he sacrifices much or little depending upon his original position. The more conventional the bearing of those who choose to expend their talents in pursuit of this ideal, the more persuasive the message.

It does not take a multitude to persuade a few. Rather the opposite is true, and the belief of many came to be centered upon this Teacher whose message was unique in its specificity. Abandon all else, He taught, in the full embrace of love shared infinitely and indiscriminately. With this blessing of love all wounds are repaired, all willing love fully available.

No matter the enormity of the need to see love perfectly expressed, man must meet this need in whatever way he can. No more is required of him whose response is purely blessed and who demands little or nothing but who shares in the full indulgence of love shared completely.

Thursday, 4/15/99 11:45PM - Divine Nature

In the brief span of a single life man is capable of much accomplishment. In the briefest of lives he teaches the lessons of love to all who cherish him and mourn him after he ends his earthly visit. Those who have chosen longer existences have more opportunities to learn and to progress, but they have as well more problems to solve and more difficulties to overcome. They must resist all temptation to live in less than a loving manner, and they must be absolute in their allegiance to those who depend upon them in any way.

When man succeeds in achieving a life of total love under all circumstances, when he embraces his enemy, when he accepts even the least likable of his acquaintances as a worthy brother, when each of his words reflects love in his heart, then indeed man has accomplished all he came to earth to do.

The miracle in the achievement of perfect love is that those who do so find themselves filled with love of self in absolute confidence that they have achieved a harmony that is the source of all happiness in this life. The miracle is made even greater when those who observe this perfect soul realize that the path to their happiness lies in emulation of his loving ways. Thus the world becomes richer by the grace of a single individual who has found true happiness in the full expression of love.

This path is open to all those experiencing earthly life, and in gratifying numbers they are coming to recognize this ultimate answer to man's seeking. Their influence is profound.

Saturday, 4/24/99 11:16PM - Divine Nature

There is no end to man's capacity to be pleasing to his God in love expressed in his everyday life.

There is no man so humble in his origins or in his way of life that he cannot offer in his deeds and words and thoughts the purest and most perfect of love. There is no man so exalted and mighty that he can surpass the offerings of the most humble of men in matters of love and caring. Indeed it is sometimes difficult for the most powerful in human life to reach the perfection in the full expression of love that his less fortunate brothers find simple to achieve.

Thus there is often, though not always, an inverse ratio in the capacity for love. Those endowed with worldly goods are often distracted in their spiritual journey and fail at times to remember the most significant of their duties. Though this is not always the case, it is unfortunately not rare. On the other hand, the capacity for spiritual growth is less hindered among those who lack the trappings of wealth and do not hunger for material privilege. These souls are more easily satisfied in material ways and are intent upon sharing their riches, both materially and spiritually.

The happy man is one who is able to enjoy whatever material prosperity and earthly pleasures his life affords him and to know contentment in his lot. He is aware at all times that the pleasures and advantages of this life are not the key to happiness unless shared, and he retains awareness of the need to listen to the dictates of his soul in rich spiritual awareness. This happy man may be rich or poor, old or young, well or ill. His earthly circumstances are in no way significant in his capacity for the full expression of love in any way open to him. He does not permit himself to be distracted or deterred from the path he has chosen. He knows what awaits, and he is content both with himself and all he knows of love.

This is that path all wise men seek. No other will suffice.

Tuesday, 4/27/99 11:35PM - Divine Nature

It is implicit in the human experience to learn. The soul come to earth comes with full awareness of all the lessons that this life offers to him. He comes in absolute confidence that he will do all he has promised and perhaps even exceed those self set goals. He knows his strengths. He is aware of his weaknesses. He is determined to meet all challenges and all temptations in the fullness of love and to learn all that he has come to learn. In the process he hopes as well to teach, to show by his example the infinite power of love to transform each human encounter into a miracle of love given and received and to so enrich himself and all those whose lives touch his.

Many souls, under widely different circumstances, succeed in doing all that they promised and in some cases far exceeding those minimum requirements. Such souls know infinite joy, and they communicate this joy in many ways, and so both satisfy those spiritual beings whose love guides always and inspire and enrich all those who share their human experience.

There is such a contagion in love and goodness and unselfish caring that man is hard pressed to ignore this simple truth. Some men do, but the great majority do not. They become aware as they observe the loving behavior of their brothers that all goodness and all happiness is dependent upon the unconditional expression of love. They learn as well that love shared is love received infinitely and that the soul knows joy beyond expression at all times.

The lessons of love are indeed lessons of joy, and they are lessons which enrich the teacher and the student equally, and in the end all are one in total perfection. No more can be asked.

Thursday, 4/29/99 11:50PM - Divine Nature

The supreme achievement of earthly existence is to live fully in love and to know at the very end of life on earth that you have no regrets, that each word and deed of your life has been worthy of your capacity for perfection, that you would do nothing differently.

This perfection is a true blessing, and it is the rare individual who, looking back on his life, regardless of its length, feels in his heart total satisfaction in all he has known of challenge and response. The overwhelming majority of souls come to earth fall short of their goal in greater or lesser degree. Almost without exception, man at the end of life knows tinges of regret, of actions he would change could he, of words spoken that can no longer be withdrawn. There is learning in this recognition that perfection has not been achieved, and great hope in the awareness of how little remains to be learned and done to reach this supreme goal.

There is a striking relationship between the extent to which man has learned to live the lessons of love and the inner happiness he has known in life. There is no reliable relationship between happiness in human existence and material success. While the richest of men materially may achieve spiritual perfection, he follows a difficult road, distracted in many ways, and when he progresses spiritually in the midst of earthly privilege he knows great inner satisfaction and pleases all those who are devoted to him. Conversely, the most deprived of men on his earthly journey may find attainment of perfection easier insofar as he is not tempted and distracted by earthly riches, but it is true that earthly deprivation is no guarantee of spiritual success. The road may be easier than it is for his more privileged brother, but there must be awareness and the desire to do all that is needed to succeed in living in perfect love.

Know then that a sure measure of happiness in earthly life is an awareness at all times of the miraculous effects that acts and words of love engender. Know that peace of mind and the inner glow of a life well lived are inevitable when man discovers that the most certain road is that of love without barriers, love expressed in word and deed, love blessed in all ways, above all in the inner joy of knowing that deep satisfaction that is achieved in no other way.

The road of love freely given is the road to perfection.

Saturday, 5/8/99 12:23AM - Divine Nature

The most gifted of men in their earthly journeys know the most intense responsibilities. These souls in progress are those who have chosen their gifts with the absolute intention to use them wisely and to thereby enrich the world they inhabit. Through the ages the world has known such exceptional individuals. They have been leaders and teachers. They have inspired and enlightened. They have been welcomed. They have been vilified.

All too often in the course of human history the most gifted of each generation have not found the recognition that their contributions deserved. All too often they have been ignored and dismissed as eccentrics for their bold teachings. All too often the world has been frightened by ideas and concepts too revolutionary for easy acceptance. All too often the world has suffered and known deprivation as a result of such blindness.

These exceptional individuals have graced society in many ways and, despite their rejection, have lived in history. Later generations have come to recognize their worth and to honor the achievements which went unnoticed in their lifetimes. It takes little study of the history of the human race to recognize these unsung heroes and to realize that those whose histories survived are but a fraction of the whole.

Let man be aware of this past neglect, and let him open his mind and heart to all those who seek to share their gifts. They are many. They are varied. They serve.

Wednesday, 5/12/99 11:50PM - Divine Nature

It is the lonely individual who seeks love who offers the greatest opportunity to befriend in love given and gratefully received. These sweet souls come to earth to learn and to teach offer infinite opportunities to all who respond to their need. In their loneliness they respond with perfect gratitude to all proffers of love, and in their full acceptance they enrich the giver immeasurably.

Not all lonely souls are capable of instant response when love is offered to them. Often their timidity holds them back and their unfamiliarity with love makes them fearful of exposing themselves to ridicule or rejection. In these cases patience is called for, and those seeking to befriend must first prove their sincerity and their willingness to take one step at a time.

Loneliness is a state in which man hungers for others to share his existence and yet feels himself incapable of taking the steps necessary to end his isolation. He fears himself incapable of attracting and keeping the love of others, and in his fearfulness unwittingly drives away all those who seek to be his friends.

There are, fortunately, persistent souls who, sensing the cause of another's loneliness, seek to persuade and to convince this needy soul of the sincerity and persistence of the love they offer. They do all that is necessary to win the trust of their fellow human and to extinguish the self doubt that separates him from those who would be his friends. They persuade by persistence. They encourage trust in all ways, and when this trust is finally gained they nurture it protectively until the soul newly aware of the joy of loving companionship sheds his fears and embraces all those who offer surcease from loneliness.

Those who succeed in freeing a fellow man from loneliness are twice blessed in all they give and in all they receive.

Saturday, 5/22/99 11:40PM - Divine Nature

It is of the utmost importance in human life that man be aware of its transitory nature. For some, human life is measured in minutes and hours, days and weeks, months and years. For others, life is measured in decades verging upon a century. All these souls are equal in their appreciation of human existence. Each has chosen its life span for an appropriate purpose. Often this purpose is to learn. Often this purpose is to teach. Often it is to do both.

It is quite understandably difficult for the human mind to appreciate the value of a life cut short almost at birth. It is equally difficult, perhaps more so, to understand the reason that lies behind the death of a young child or adult. All such deaths leave devastation in their wakes. All such deaths challenge understanding. Yet it is at such times under such circumstances that man is called upon to recognize that his life is his alone and that his choice has been to survive all trials with trust and equanimity and to recognize and accept that the soul departed, however prematurely it seems to him, is a soul released to glory of its own wish and a soul that continues to love and care for all those who shared its earthly journey.

So, My children, all earthly journeys are the same whether they be measured in minutes or in decades. All involve souls in pursuit of their own individual perfection. All know that they are destined to succeed, though they may at times be deprived of this sure faith, but regardless of the strength of their faith they are destined to rejoice in the end of earthly existence as the entry to a more perfect belonging.

There is no terror in death. If man approaches this transition in fear, this fear is dissipated absolutely at the moment of transition, and all glory is his to know in new found wonder. He is in the company of those whose perfect love gives him joy and hope, and he knows in all ways the enormous capacity of his soul to both give and receive this absolute love.

Sunday, 5/23/99 11:22PM - Divine Nature

There is never a time when man should despair. No matter the degree of pain and deprivation, no matter how intense the sorrow, nothing in human life is beyond man's capacity to accept and to survive. In each of life's challenges, man is able to seek within himself and to seek from others all the succor he needs for victory over travail.

At all times man is provided in many ways to be the master of his fate, to deal with all that life demands of him in a spirit of self sufficiency and reliance upon all sources of strength shared. When man suffers, he offers to those who love him opportunity to grow spiritually. He is in need of love expressed fully and they are gratified and enriched by the opportunity to supply the needed loving assistance. All are enriched by the full expression of love given and received, and the soul in turmoil finds both solution and peace and new found confidence in the power of love shared.

All men in their earthly journeys know occasions when a loving response answers their needs perfectly. The need may be great or it may be small. The degree is insignificant. What is significant is the free and full expression of love inherent in the aid needed and given. All those who share the experience of need expressed and need satisfied know a full heart and new awareness of the beauty of shared love and caring.

Once man learns this lesson of love, he is able to live in total satisfaction with himself and know that each time he is instrumental in aiding a fellow human he is thereby nourished.

Monday, 5/31/99 10:54PM - Divine Nature

In his infinite goodness man approaches perfection often in the course of earthly life. This wondrous being incorporates into each and every aspect of his life the divine gift of love fully expressed and in no way ever withheld for any reason.

You have known such men. You have wondered at their capacity to accept abuse and respond in love. You have known them to suffer gladly the deprivations they know in their daily lives. You have seen them share in all ways whatever bounty life affords them even at the cost of self deprivation. You have wondered at this capacity for selfless love and speculated about its strength. You have wished yourself this perfect in giving without thought of receiving.

Such awareness brings with it benefits. It is the first step in emulation. Once you have seen the selfless nature of joyous giving, you are tempted to take the first step in an effort to achieve the happiness that comes only from the free exchange of love. You first experience the joy of giving and you know in your heart that you have taken only the first step on the road to self satisfaction and eventual perfection. The second step is inevitable and even more gratifying and the path is set. Life takes on a richness that is achieved in no other way.

Man's discovery of his innate goodness is one of true joy and enlightenment, and this new awareness affords him great satisfaction henceforth. He lives a life of generous and undemanding giving. He loves without condition. He finds himself cherished by all those touched by his goodness. He needs no more to be pleased with himself.

Wednesday, 6/2/99 11:59PM - Divine Nature

The least of men in their earthly lives can aspire to be the greatest of men in all that matters. They can find in their hearts the full love that marks those who approach perfection in their striving to achieve spiritual progress.

These sweet souls find in their innermost beings awareness of the insignificance of material advantage and the precious quality of internal goodness. They demand little and give much. They embrace the concept of love that knows no limits, no conditions, no inconstancy. They bring joy into the lives of all those privileged to share in their goodness. They bring light into the lives of those who profit by their example and find goodness newly discovered in themselves.

The world all too often fails to recognize the wonder of those children of God who seem superficially to be wanting in every way. They see the surface only and fail to comprehend the complexities of the soul. All too often this failure prompts them to dismiss these worthy souls as unfortunate, and in their blindness fail to recognize the richness within.

Life in its distribution of material benefits is, therefore, often misleading. Man tends to judge by external attributes. It is his temptation to dismiss those materially deprived in any way as less than worthy, their deprivation in his mind being proof adequate of their inferiority. This folly serves no one, but it injures most sorely the man whose hasty judgment is so erroneous. He deprives himself.

In time he achieves the wisdom to recognize his error, and he regrets the falsity of his assumptions. He knows in the end that his is the soul deprived.

Friday, 6/4/99 10:55PM - Divine Nature

It is at all times within the province of man to determine the extent to which he chooses to live his life in accordance with what his heart speaks of his destiny. While he may not remember in any or in exact detail what he promised to accomplish in this life, there is a wisdom innate in his being that holds awareness of what he has chosen to do in learning. There is a sacred being ready always to guide him along the road he has promised to take. There are countless reminders of all that is right and good.

Despite all these gifts, these caring reminders, man often finds it too difficult to fulfill his promises. Ignorant, as he chooses to be, of all that is required of him, he permits himself to be lured into the total immersion in worldly striving and transitory pleasure that takes him far from the path he is meant to follow. Yet the longer he travels down this road he was not meant to take, the more futile the journey seems to become. Anticipating great satisfaction, he finds disappointment. He seeks to know within himself why his efforts have succeeded superficially and failed in all other ways.

It is at this point, often that man, tired of the journey of life, sated with earthly pleasure and hungry for more satisfying nourishment, seeks to look beyond the practical, the superficial. Often he seeks the guidance of those who seem to have combined earthly pleasure with inner peace. Often he seeks awareness in the words of those teachers whose wisdom is shared in many ways. Often he seeks within himself. He seeks to know the promptings of his soul, promptings so long neglected but never silenced.

From all this searching the soul sincere in his desire to know goodness learns the lessons of life and love, and having learned their wonder for himself, approaches all those he loves with an intense desire to share the wisdom so dearly bought. In giving, he receives. In teaching, he learns. In sharing, he knows oneness.

Wednesday, 6/16/99 11:55PM - Divine Nature

It is man's greatest pleasure and his most serious obligation to know that all of life is meaningless and empty of achievement if he does not know love at each moment of his earthly journey.

I have spoken of the purity of love that is a divine gift to each soul entering earthly existence. I have spoken of the challenges to love that man faces as he progresses on his earthly journey. I have spoken of the infinite varieties of love that the soul in progress may be privileged to know. I have said that love may be an intense and permanent aspect of life, a compelling belonging, or it may be superficial and fleeting, but no less worthy.

Between these two extremes man weaves a pattern of love that colors his life and determines the degree of his spiritual success. Some men demand love as their right with no regard for its demand that it be enriched by equal fervor in response. Some men grow impatient with love and seek fulfillment in other relationships, most often futilely. Some humans in progress have chosen the most difficult of paths, of seeking after love and finding only disappointment and rejection in their quest.

In all of these varied experiences there is value. The search for love is enriching even in the face of repeated failure. The soul grows in generosity and in sensitivity and it becomes vital in such an experience to reject feelings of bitterness and to know that a love beyond human love is attainable always.

Rarely is a soul so totally tried. Most often man knows joy in his seeking after love, and if he learns the lessons of love, the sure truth that love given is both strengthened and enriched by love received, that reciprocity marks perfect love, he needs to know no more. Yet even those who fail to find total gratification in love during their time on earth should know that this gratification awaits. It is the right of all souls, at times sorely earned, but at all times joyfully granted.

Friday, 6/18/99 11:05PM - Divine Nature

When man questions the meaning of life, he generally does so when he seems to be tried beyond endurance, when he has despaired of explaining to himself the causes or the reason for his distress. It is at these times when man finds little comfort in logic, little satisfaction in assigning responsibility, little optimism about what he can expect in time to come.

This soul in progress is a soul in need. It is his misfortune not to have a steady faith in divine governance, to know that in all ways his life has value and meaning beyond his immediate perception. He is at this point in his journey desperately in need of such faith. It is easy to say that if he seeks he will find. Most often this is the case, but regardless of conviction or promise, the soul in progress is expected and required to meet all the problems and challenges of life in loving awareness. He may not understand, he may not accept the rightness of all that his life requires of him, but in all cases his spiritual progress requires acceptance, and further requires that each act in his struggle to accept be marked by a love that he knows absolutely. He must at all times reject bitterness and surrender to despair.

At all times man must be aware of his own powerlessness in physical control, but he must as well strive to realize his absolute power in spiritual control. He cannot at times control his physical experiences, but he can at all times control his response. When his response speaks of love, he succeeds in the face of all difficulty. When his response lacks love, he must learn further lessons.

Thus man progresses to perfection.

Monday, 7/19/99 11:49PM - Divine Nature

When man arrives at the point in his life that he knows despair, then indeed he needs the aid of all who seek to advise and encourage him. I speak here both of those who are privileged to share his earthly voyage and those who seek to aid and guide him in heavenly ways.

Man in despair is man who had been buffeted by life, sometimes abandoned by those he loved, robbed of faith in the future, and helpless in the face of such adversity. He seeks to find hope in all that he sees ahead of him, and he fails. He seeks to find solutions to the problems he faces, and he fails. He seeks within himself to find the strength to go on with a life he considers unbearable, and he fails.

It is not often that man finds himself totally without hope, totally without faith in himself or in others, totally incapable of enduring the life he knows. At such times he is incapable of hearing words of encouragement and optimism. They seem to him false and misleading. He is deaf to the inner voices that offer aid beyond his comprehension, that speak of glorious redemption. He is bleak.

What brings man to this point of no return? How can a God of goodness tolerate such inhumanity? What can possibly explain such suffering in one of God's creatures?

There is no easy answer to these questions, for the roads to despair are many and varied, and man in the exercise of free will chooses each road he takes. He is not always wise in his choices. He has sought to overcome trial and challenge as he promised before coming to this life, and he has in his mind failed. His understanding is limited, and so is his response. His needs are not always met in his earthly experience, and this is cause for regret for all who share his anguish. Yet this man in his despair may have served a purpose for many. Others may have learned from his error. Some may have learned compassion from observing his trials. Some may have learned caring from their efforts to help him. All may have learned love from their involvement.

No life is wasted. Even the briefest, even the most sorrowful, even the most anguished serves as a lesson, an example to all who seek to understand. It behooves man to look for the lesson each life teaches. The meanest life may offer the most learning.

Sunday, 8/1/99 11:40PM - Divine Nature

From time to time man profits by self assessment.

It is all too easy for man to be so caught up in the activities of his chosen life that he can fall into patterns of behavior and thought not totally desirable or fulfilling. He may forget family obligations in the press of business. He may seek pleasure so completely that he neglects other necessary duties. He may become restless and seek new experiences and adventures at the expense of commitments earlier made. In all cases man runs the risk of neglecting those responsibilities that create in him a sense of fulfillment and create in others a loving response.

There are times when man has no choice but to stop and consider himself in objective and critical terms. He is sometimes shocked into awareness by a turn of events so unexpected as to leave him totally incapable of action. He may find himself bereaved in the loss of a dear one and realize with anguish how much he would do differently had he the opportunity. At times man is challenged by those bound to him in bonds of love to stop and assess his behavior and to reestablish relationships which have suffered as a result of neglectful or selfish behavior.

Regardless of cause, man, if he is honest and desirous of self discovery, finds himself enlightened and enriched by this self appraisal. He may seek help from caring souls. If he is sincere, he finds himself capable of change, and he knows how best to reshape his life to please both himself and those who love him so that his goals will feed his spirit and fill his heart with awareness of the power of love. He needs no more.

Monday, 8/2/99 11:10PM - Divine Nature

In all of life there is order and reason.

It is hard at times for man to accept this simple truth. He is often perplexed by the unpredictability of the world he knows. Natural disasters seem to him transgressions in a universe that is at most times beneficent. Illness and catastrophic outbreaks of disease try his capacity to feel secure in an orderly world. Even within his own existence, he is upset by the unexpected, by sudden disturbance in the smooth passage of his life.

Let man know that there is reason in each disturbance in the natural rhythm of earthly existence. Each catastrophe claims victims, to be sure, but these souls do not die in vain. They teach much to the survivors, and by their misfortune they inspire in others a sense of unity and a desire to be helpful and consoling. Even if death does not occur, men are drawn together in sympathy for those who have suffered and are enriched by the generosity that inspires them to do all within their power to alleviate pain and need.

The most awful of tragedies, then, can be said to have effects that change lives. Each gesture of loving concern is a triumph of the human spirit. When man unites with his brothers in acts of caring, all profit. There is no end to the goodness of man facing adversity. The victims learn acceptance and patience and gratefully accept all that is offered to them in love. Those who seek to alleviate suffering and need are united in a common cause and find great healing in newfound awareness of all that binds brother to brother in time of need.

It is wisdom to acknowledge this aspect of human existence and to accept with equanimity all that befalls man in his journey through life as meaningful and beneficial.

Sunday, 8/22/99 11:57PM - Divine Nature

It is blessed to behold man when he has learned the lessons of love even to a small degree. It is total glory to behold man who has learned to love perfectly. In all of life there is need to recognize that love is the single essential for man to achieve.

Often this achievement is not a simple task. Often man chooses to be born in adverse circumstances, into an environment and into relationships where he must learn to love despite early and sometimes continued deprivation, where he must struggle simply to survive and to seek always for the acceptance that marks love given.

The soul having chosen the difficulties and the obstacles of his human existence strives nevertheless to grow spiritually in the capacity to give love even when it is denied him. The fortunate soul retains the capacity for love he brought with him into this world, and he stubbornly clings to the comfort of love even when his life denies him any manifestation of this precious gift.

It is notable that few souls fail completely to reach the miracle of love given and received, that no matter how difficult the struggle the striving soul persists in its need to learn to love and to inspire love. Those who achieve this necessary goal are able to perfect further their capacities to live fully in love and to know total assurance in this practice.

Those souls who fail to learn the lessons of love given and received are to be pitied, and indeed when they reach the end of human life they are welcomed into the heavenly realm with special warmth, and they know that they are not incapable of love. Indeed they rejoice endlessly in this gift.

Tuesday, 8/31/99 11:13PM - Divine Nature

There are many paths to wisdom. There are many kinds of wisdom. Each man pursuing truth seeks and finds the path that conforms most closely to his beliefs, beliefs either inherited or chosen in maturity. There is and must be an intrinsic goodness in this seeking for wisdom. It must be selfless in objective. It must be honest in appraisal. It must be sincere in need.

Through the centuries of recorded time many have laid claim to ultimate wisdom. Their seeking has been holy in intent and often effective in persuasion of others. Many of these holy souls have come close to embracing and promulgating universal truth, and much credit must go to them for their efforts and their achievements. They live in history and in the hearts and minds of their adherents, many even to the present day.

There are still seekers after wisdom who are not content with past teachings and who seek to convert. Some of these who call themselves teachers are worthy of the title and pursue their ministries in full faith in their own goodness and in the goodness of all those who subscribe to their beliefs and their teachings. There are, unfortunately, all too many others who proclaim themselves seekers after wisdom and truth but who stray far afield from the purity of their original motives. Some are seduced by power, others by wealth, more often by a combination of the two. They misuse their talents and take rude advantage of those fellow seekers who find in them the leadership that they believe useful and compelling.

Some of these errant teachers do minor harm. Others are guilty of gross damage, both to those who follow their lead and to the world they inhabit. They create mistrust in the minds of those who observe and sense their infidelity. They do harm in the name of good and great numbers suffer.

In the end all will be revealed and the true seeker will know the satisfaction of the truly blessed while the charlatan will stand revealed in his true colors to a world newly aware.

Tuesday, 9/21/99 11:50PM - Divine Nature

In his seeking after happiness in human life, man tries many roads. Sometimes he is guided strongly in his choice by parental and societal influences. Often those influences, beneficent in their nature, afford great satisfaction and grace in their guidance and the soul so guided lives a life affirmative in its aspirations, fulfilling in its accomplishments. Under the best of circumstances, love becomes an essential part of each aspect of the life so designed and man basks in the pleasure he is afforded.

There are times when man is troubled by a sense of direction. He may reject the guidance offered. He may lack completely a sense of caring and protectiveness. He may lack the talents and capacities to accomplish his dreams of success. He may know early despair and deprivation and feel himself incapable of aspiration.

Sometimes the world is cruel to those who are seemingly lacking in the attributes that the world deems desirable, and they suffer accordingly. If they are fortunate in the midst of self styled failure and distress, they find in their lives a caring soul, one whose faith and trust create an eden in the midst of desolation, and all insecurity lessens in the faith of a loving soul's caring. Sometimes the road to this security is long and difficult. Sometimes the road has no ending. Yet it must be remembered that all of life is learning and that failure may be the most profound teacher.

In the end no soul is adjudged a failure. In the end those judged failures in their earthly lives may know the greatest glory. Their success may be inestimable.

Tuesday, 7/27/99 11:50PM - Divine Nature

When man strives to understand his unique role in this life, he searches his heart, he examines all he has know since birth in both blessing and demand, and he remains uncertain of the answers he seeks.

Man needs first of all to recognize that this life is not all of his spiritual experience. He needs to know that although he may not in a single life find the wholeness he seeks, he needs to realize that the wholeness does indeed exist though perhaps outside his immediate earthly existence.

It is difficult for man to contemplate life beyond his awareness, but it takes little consideration for him to realize the perfection that further existence represents. Each man born to human life comes with aims and aspirations of his own choosing, but he comes as well in full agreement that he will live this life ignorant of all he has promised but confident of achieving all he has sought to accomplish. Man lives each life, and he lives many, in total ignorance of the totality of his spiritual existence and his many and varied human manifestations. It is not unreasonable for him to struggle to achieve perfection unaware of how far he has already progressed.

Man, therefore, needs to be aware that at each step of his earthly progress it is his obligation to strive to achieve perfection in the giving and receiving of love without barrier or condition. This is for all souls in progress the ultimate achievement, the sole requirement for admission to the godly company that represents spiritual perfection and everlasting grace.

This is the path both open and inevitable to all of God's creatures come to earthly life to give and to receive, to learn and to teach, to share always and to know the perfection of oneness.

© 2010 Cornelia Silke dba New Light Publishing