Saturday, 2/19/00 11:03PM - Lessons

It is of the utmost importance that man know his own true value at all times during his time on earth. He should know that he is valued infinitely by all those bound to him in love both human and divine. There are times when it is difficult for man to hold a steady faith in the love that envelops him and shields him from harm. It is in the nature of life that love is at times inconstant, that the object of love is mistreated and abused. When this occurs it is man's duty to try to achieve understanding and forgiveness, to remember that human weakness and temporary aberration are only momentarily destructive, that all forgiveness erases their harm.

It is not always easy to forgive, but it is essential to do so. Resentment and enmity are destructive emotions and are most harmful to the soul harboring them. The object of enmity is rarely affected, but the soul who has forgotten, even temporarily, to understand and to forgive suffers. The degree of suffering is directly related to the intensity and duration of hostility. There is little comfort in feelings of resentment and hostility. There is little chance of inner peace so long as the soul is consumed by this failure to love, to understand, to forgive.

Although it seems at times that the offender is not affected by his cruelty, he is indeed scarred as well. Though he may seem unaffected by the alienation his acts have caused, he is not untouched. Regret lurks in his soul despite his efforts to deny such feelings, and though false pride may prevent him from confessing error and attempting to make amends, he knows his guilt and feels an emptiness in his heart where love once had been his joy and comfort.

Let all men be aware of the destruction wrought by unloving acts and the alienation that so often follows. Let man forgive readily and avoid the alienation that is cause of so much regret. Let the offender admit responsibility and express regret and seek atonement. In the absence of strife and recrimination love can survive abuse and grow stronger for the experience.

The Need for Tolerance
Revelations

There are many things that need to be revealed to man. Chief among them is the absolute need for tolerance. There is little acceptance of this absolute necessity in many parts of the world today. All about you you see the ravages that intolerance produces. You see brother set against brother in the name of patriotism or religious fervor. Both are destructive when combined with a failure to accept the beliefs of others as valid and permissible.

It behooves man to take steps to correct this error. First, he must look into his own heart. It is easy to overlook this character flaw in oneself. It is simple to accept without thinking prejudices which are so inborn as to seem natural and based on fact. It is easy to become so self satisfied that the errors of judgment become a matter of habit. There is great need for each individual to examine his beliefs closely and to discard those which are prejudicial in any way. Beyond this he must guard against any action which reflects intolerance. His words must reflect acceptance of all those beliefs which differ from his own. Finally, the individual must at all times seek to curb intolerance in those about him. He must seek to persuade others of the destructive effect of such intolerance. He must by his example lead others into an awareness of the absolute necessity of acceptance of the beliefs and customs of others, no matter how different or even repugnant they seem to him.

Those in authority have an even greater responsibility, one which is all too often neglected and ignored. Those in a position to command the respect of others should at all times be aware of their power and use it for the common good. In all cases the common good is served by an open hearted acceptance of all God's creatures and of all the differences which may exist among them. Never should a leader attempt to bolster his popularity or his power by appealing to the baser instincts among his followers. All too often this temptation proves irresistible. It is all too easy to appeal to prejudice, to flatter and cajole by telling men that they are superior to their brothers and neighbors and that therefore their superiority entitles them to intolerance. Man, by nature seeks security, and all to often finds it in the kinds of superiority that breed intolerance.

In all areas of the world today intolerance exacts its price. In all areas of life man must as an individual change this emotional crippling. Governments and religious organizations must recognize the dangers inherent in intolerance. A look at the past is convincing. A look at the present is convincing. Let man assure himself and generations to follow that a look to the future demands a world free of the corrosive influence of intolerance.

Tuesday, 5/2/00 11:55PM - Lessons

Part of man's responsibility in his earthly journey is to himself. It is tempting for some souls in progress to think that total self abnegation and neglect is admirable. While the motive for such self denial may be both commendable and virtuous, man does himself a disservice when he neglects his own needs for any reason.

It is important that each soul in progress remember the divine nature of its origin and its mission. Even when circumstances demand deprivation in material ways for the benefit of others, man must not consider that he denies himself because he is unworthy. Rather he must remember that he is at all times a child of God capable of all that is required of him, but that as well he must remember that what is required of him will not demand surrender of awareness of his own worth.

Even when man offers his very life to benefit another, he must be aware of his own nobility in doing so. Often man acts heroically at risk of his own life in the course of duty. Often he unthinkingly risks death to save another from death. There are times when there is no time for consideration, and man without any hesitations puts himself at risk for the sake of another. This is love in its most noble expression, and the world is in awe of such selflessness when it becomes aware of such sacrifice. In these circumstances man acts from the purest of motives, and even when he seems not to have considered his action, he knows in his soul the nobility of his being and the world grows rich in its recognition of such goodness.

The heroic nature of man is evident constantly in much less dramatic ways than offering one's life for the sake of another, and each time man acts in love to benefit his brother, he affirms his divine nature and serves as inspiration to others who are in turn moved to act unselfishly when the opportunity presents itself. All grow in awareness of self worth and all are thereby both enriched and enlightened.

Envy - Revelations

In the best of times, man knows the peaceful heart that is his by nature. He seeks goodness in himself and in others, and knows the depth of satisfaction that life can offer to an individual whose chief concern is to exist peacefully with his neighbors and to regard each man as his brother. Too often, this peace and love is disrupted by emotions unworthy of a child of God learning the lessons of love.

Chief among these base emotions is envy. There is no emotion so destructive of love as this covetousness that steals into man's heart without invitation and insidiously destroys his peaceful acceptance of what life has given him. He labors under the impression that he has been unfairly treated by the powers that be, that his neighbor has been given worldly goods in excess of his needs while he suffers from lack.

Nor are worldly goods the only basis for envy. Many a man bemoans his lot in life. He would be more talented, more educated, more capable of doing work which commands respect and prestige. He will bemoan his fate and cease trying to fulfill his destiny with the willingness and industry demanded of him. In the end his discontent makes him unfit for any pursuit, and he loses completely the peaceful acceptance of himself as a worthy individual. For it is in the destruction of the individual that envy is most dangerous. Man's happiness in this life comes from acceptance of the role he has chosen to play, of the richness or poorness accompanying that choice in all aspects of his life, and an awareness of his God-given ability to fulfill all his promises of loving acceptance of all he has been given and equally of all he has been denied.

I have said repeatedly that the inequities of this earthly journey are as nothing in the larger scheme of things. They are momentary at best. But they are significant in enabling man to progress to the perfection he has sought from the beginning. It is difficult for man with his limited vision to see deprivation as a blessing, but believe Me, My children, it is exactly that if accepted in loving obedience and absolute love. Embrace the limitations you have chosen to bring with you into this life whatever their nature, and do not let the insidiousness of envy enter your soul, your heart, your mind. Look about you and see beneath the surface of other lives, and know that in each of those lives, some apparently greatly privileged, some apparently greatly deprived, there is a compact with God, a promise absolute to meet the challenges that human existence presents, and to end that human existence having lived in the love of self, fellow man and God in every way.

The rich and the poor, the whole and the maimed, the wise man and the fool, the ancient and the infant, all come to the transition of death equal in all respects, and welcome the loving judgment that awaits them. All souls, whatever their earthly station, whatever their earthly experiences, whatever their successes or failures in life, stand equally willing and anxious to take the next necessary steps to achieve their destiny --- to know the glory of oneness, of perfect celestial love, of the beauty of the Godhead. This is My promise.

Thursday, 10/15/98 9:40PM

In the fullness of time, truth prevails always, but the road to truth is strewn often with error and falsehood.

Truth is a virtue beyond all others save love. The two are inextricably intertwined, each dependent upon the other, each infinitely enriched by the other. It is man's basic nature to pursue truth, to know its essential beauty, and to seek its infinite comfort. Yet truth is often elusive. What seems ultimate truth to one man may seem to be folly or even heresy to another. What seems truth to one man may seem even foolish to those who fall short of understanding his convictions.

Let it be said, then, that truth is badly in need of definition. Let us seek to know the attributes of truth.

Truth in its purest form allows no argument, for it is closely related to love. Love is incapable of harm. Truth is incapable of harm. Love in its purest form is universal, seeking and finding acceptance in all aspects of human existence. Similarly truth is in all ways universal. Truth is all that benefits man and aids him in his quest for spiritual perfection. Truth is inherent in love in action. One man may see truth in a light different from his brother, but he has only to weigh truth in the scales of love to know where right lies. If his truth is harmful to his brother, he is wrong. If his truth is helpful to his brother, then his brother is wrong.

Truth should never divide. It should never set brother against brother. Love should always intervene, and truth should unite those formerly divided, newly defined in the needs of love shared.

Shall it be said that there is only one ultimate truth? Indeed this is the case. The ultimate truth is that all souls on their earthly journey have an absolute obligation to act in love, to speak in love, to feel in love at each step they take. There is no alternative to this requirement. There is no other path that takes man to earthly happiness and to eternal joy.

This is My word.

Tuesday, 10/20/98 11:40PM - Divine Nature

In all of life, mysteries evolve and answers are given. Very early in each human life the soul come to earth forgets its origins, forgets its divine compact, and is forced to seek once again for the meaning of the life he has begun to lead.

The days of childhood are innocent halcyon days, but gradually each human begins to seek a purpose, a reason for his journey through life. Some are fortunate to have great and specific talents, and it is easy for them to choose their earthly endeavors. Other, less strongly directed, seek to find satisfaction in diverse ways. Some are born to achieve greatness. Others find their destiny in more ordinary ways. All are God's children seeking, sometimes without being aware, to fulfill the promises made before the start of earthly existence.

It is not for others to determine the success or failure of another's striving. The lowliest of men in social graces and material success may know inner joy and fulfillment denied to his more materially successful brother. Conversely, the man most envied may suffer within. In all cases, man knows inner peace when he seeks to do all he can in this life to convey to all those whose lives are intertwined with his the full love that he wishes to share. He must at all times know the power of love shared in both thought and deed, and he must be aware of the effects of all his actions. Love begets love always. The converse is equally true, and it is the strongest of souls who lives each day in the full expression of love regardless of rebuffs and denial. Each day's end brings to the pure of heart the peace that nourishes the soul and gives it strength to live another day in perfect love and giving.

Imagine, My children, a world in which all souls remember their reason for being earthlings. Imagine a world motivated by love, a world in which no man ignores his brother's need for love, a world in which conflict is unknown, a world that is pleasing to God and man in all ways. Know always that this world is not only yours to create but that it is inevitable that you do so.

Friday, 11/6/98 11:55PM EST - Divine Nature

In all of life, man must learn patience. He is not born with this virtue. Behold the infant. His needs are immediate and he protests at delay. Behold the child in his maturing years. Slowly he learns that he must on occasion wait for all he seeks and that protests against delay are fruitless. Slowly he realizes that he is capable of patience and the discovery serves him well. Little by little he achieves the capacity to know when rebellion against delay is fruitless. He learns to wait without protest.

There are times when patience is sorely tried, when despite man's best efforts he fails to succeed in all he attempts. He knows frustration and anger, and he knows a sense of frustration that knows no relief. It is at such times that his inner voice speaks words of wisdom, and if he listens and responds he will find respite from his frustration. He will allow himself to wait patiently for all he wishes. In time he will realize the inner peace that patience affords him, and he will know that all things occur in good time.

There are other occasions when man must learn the value of patience. When man encounters trials seemingly beyond endurance, when he faces problems seemingly beyond all solution, when he reaches the point of despair, he must either exercise patience or compound his frustration and despair. Once again he is well served by the inner voice counseling him. He must heed this counsel and wait for a surcease of trial and tribulation knowing that it will come, confident in his capacity to endure. Patience becomes a necessary comfort and becomes a weapon of value in all future trials.

Patience is its own reward. It stills the impatient heart. It brings peace to the spirit. It conveys to others the peacefulness of patient acceptance. In all things man should strive to achieve infinite patience and in the exercise of this patience make it part of his nature. The patient soul knows peace always.

Monday, 11/9/98 11:16PM - Divine Nature

It is always within man's capabilities to progress to his ultimate goal. It is essential indeed that he progress, for he will not stop short of this goal regardless of the nature of his earthly experiences. At the end of each human life the soul returned to God knows fully his successes and his failures in the life just past. He is incapable of less than total honesty in his self evaluation. There is no bitterness in recognition of failure in earthly existence. Rather there is in this very recognition fresh resolve to succeed and to achieve the spiritual progress required of him.

It is a sweet thought indeed that the soul cannot know ultimate failure, that there is in each soul such identification with the divinity that never can total failure be considered. With each renewal of life comes a new beginning, a new set of resolves, a new striving to fulfill all promises. Though man varies in his talents and earthly capacities, he is at all times equal to his brothers in the eyes of God. It is regrettable that some souls lose this sense of godliness and become lost in the temptations of this world, often sinking into dissolution and violence so at odds with his divine capacities, but even the lowliest of humans have cause to be hopeful. Never are they totally disassociated from their Maker.

It is pleasing to both man and God that those who seek to live lives of love and fulfill their promise to live in love vastly outnumber those whose human lives are marked by unloving behavior. These good souls live in awareness of their own worth in the eyes of their fellow men and in the eyes of God who loves them. There is no struggle that defeats them, for their faith sustains. They approach each day with full awareness of the need to respond to all trials in a spirit of loving acceptance and this acceptance in itself lends strength and determination to survive all earthly challenges.

Be aware then that man is at all times able to do all that is pleasing in the sight of God and to progress to the perfection that is the inevitable goal of all souls. Failure, when it is experienced, is only temporary. Success, when it occurs, can and should become a constant. In this way man learns.

Thursday, 11/12/98 10:35PM - Divine Nature

In all of life the ties that bind man to man in love are of paramount importance. There are at all times reasons for man to love his brother. There are at all times reasons for man not to love his brother. The soul in progress needs to know always that reason means little when he is called upon to feel and to express love in words and in action.

It is a difficult thing for man to learn to love all he knows in earthly existence regardless of worthiness. It is imperative that man learn this lesson if he is to achieve the perfection of love given that is required of all souls. Man is, at best, fallible and it is easy for him to assume that his judgment in matters of the heart is his alone to make. He finds it difficult to believe that his emotional response to his brother could be less than perfect. Yet in fact most men are imperfect in their initial response to those in need of love who are less than appealing, who offer little in return, who have known loneliness and rejection.

It is not easy to love the unlovable. Yet this is the absolute requirement of all men seeking perfection. Nothing less is adequate. There are times when man feels absolute revulsion when he looks upon his brother. No matter the reason for this feeling of revulsion, it is a completely unworthy response to the needs of a fellow human being. No matter how lowly, no man deserves revulsion, and it sears the soul of the beholder to permit this emotion to enter his heart.

It is at such a moment that man must stop and consider. He must first of all consider his relationship with the piteous creature he is tempted to reject completely. He must consider the different paths each took and he must be grateful for the grace that separates him from loneliness and despair. He must consider his obligation to his brother whose path was, for whatever reason, less fortunate, and he must be persuaded to meet this obligation in whatever way seems most adequate.

Blessed is the man who follows this path from revulsion to consideration to pity to charitable response. In his heart he knows the warmth of giving and in his giving he creates the warmth of receiving. Both are blessed. Both know the brotherhood that is at all times pleasing in all ways.

Tuesday, 11/17/98 11:30PM - Divine Nature

In all of life man knows the inner satisfaction that comes from a loving response. As an infant he responds to a smile. As a child he responds to words of love with words of love. He responds to a loving embrace with joy and an equally loving response. At each stage of his life his existence is enriched each time he knows a gesture of love, for it is his instinct to respond equally, and the richness of love shared knows no limit.

There are times when man's instinct to respond in a loving way is sorely tried. There are times when his words of love are ignored or denied, when his gestures of love are rejected. There are times when man is puzzled by this brother's lack of caring, his unresponsiveness to love offered. It is at these times that man must cling to his natural desire to share the blessings of love. It is, unfortunately, a human failing to feel that the man who rejects love is not worthy of love. Quite the opposite is true. The man who finds himself responding to all life offers in an unloving way, who regards his brother as not needful of his love, is a soul greatly in need. It is incumbent upon all those who deal with such a soul to restore him to loving behavior.

A loving response is by its very nature contagious. It is the rare soul who turns away from gestures of love and caring. It is more likely that man will accept each gesture and word of love and respond in kind. Thus love is generated and provides sustenance to all who share in its blessing.

It seems to some that to say that love generates love is an oversimplification. Yet it is a basic truth, but like all absolutes there are exceptions. Man rarely rejects love offered in all generosity, and yet there is occasionally such rejection. The soul so lost that he cannot accept love is the soul greatly in need. It is tempting to ignore this need, to find rejection of love offered cause for rejection returned. Yet this is an ignoble response, and it is important for man to realize that just as love engenders love, lack of love engenders lack of love.

It is often tempting for man, once rejected by his brother, to feel that he has done all that is required. The opposite is true. Man must persevere and must suffer rejection over and over again. He must never stop in his efforts to touch the soul of his brother and to persuade him of the power and pleasure that love offers.

There is treasure in reaching the most difficult of souls.

Thursday, 11/26/98 10:06PM - Divine Nature

It is incumbent upon man in his earthly journey to know that at each step along the way he is capable of choice. He may at times be unaware of the significance of his choices. Some may seem to him so insignificant as to be unworthy of serious concern. Others may seem so weighty as to be intolerable in their difficulty. What distinguishes man from man is the purity of his choice.

It is a part of human existence that man is expected to be capable of wise choices, to know that no matter the enticement, he must choose with wisdom and unselfishness. It is difficult at times to remember this mandate, and man seeks to gratify his innermost desires for the pleasures and privileges of this mortal life at the expense of his soul felt urges. He is pleased immediately with the gratification he knows in earthly pleasure, in the persuasive awareness of material success, but above all he wonders about the wisdom of his choice when he knows in his innermost soul words of warning.

He becomes aware that all he has sought and achieved in worldly goods and social approbation does not feed the uneasy soul. He finds himself seeking further and wondering at which point along life's path he went astray. Let us momentarily commiserate with this wayward soul. Let us wonder how fully he can compensate for mistakes and errors beyond number. Let us look into his soul and ask what he requires. Let us be infinitely forgiving and let us hope that this forgiveness suffices. In all cases, the troubled soul looks to its fellows for sustenance and, if necessary, forgiveness. It is a privilege to receive this help that becomes forgiveness. It is greater privilege to offer this forgiveness and the blessing of love freely given.

In all of life man's errors seek the wonder of loving acceptance of human frailty and the full faith in human strength. Both frailty and strength mark man's progress through life. Both are gifts to offer learning. Both profit man.

Friday, 11/27/98 10:46PM - Divine Nature

There is one great gift afforded to man in his earthly journey that surpasses all others and that gift is his capacity for a loving response no matter how tried he is. There are times when in his fallibility man ignores and neglects this great gift, but no matter how long man chooses to live in the darkness of a life without love this capacity never leaves him. It lies dormant awaiting his need.

There is much in life that seems to the earthly voyager unfair. Man looks about him and in his weaker moments counts himself deprived in comparison with others. He sees in the rich man a source of envy, and he chooses to believe that were he as well endowed with earthly goods his heart would overflow with happiness. He looks at the famous and thinks that fame has brought them the preeminence he will never know and that their lives are enriched beyond measure. He dreams of achieving wealth and fame and forgets to count the blessings that life has bestowed upon him.

His discontent is mirrored in his words and actions, and he tends to alienate others by his self dissatisfaction. Even those most closely bound to him in family ties cannot persuade him of the error of his ways. He refuses to consider himself fortunate in any way, deprived as he is of his yearning for fame and fortune. Even when he learns of the problems and disappointments of those he envies for their material gifts, he refuses to accept the truth that happiness lies within, not without.

It is the fortunate soul who eventually comes to a realization of his errors, who finds it possible to live life in full appreciation of what he has achieved in life and envies no man. Having reached this awareness, he finds it possible to learn to love himself and all those bound to him emotionally and to know that when he is loved and capable of giving love freely he needs no further riches. No matter the course of his life, he finds satisfaction in the full knowledge that each of his actions must be guided by the rule of love. His rewards are infinite.

Wednesday, 12/9/98 11:45PM - Divine Nature

In man's infinite seeking he encounters questions beyond numbering that try his understanding. In times of trial the intensity of his questioning increases, and he is hard pressed to maintain steady faith when answers elude him. He questions his role in a complex world. He seeks to know the certainty of happiness in this existence, and he wonders when it seems elusive. There are times when he feels that he is ill equipped to cope with the demands of his daily existence, and he is tempted to surrender to depression and despair. He looks to those bound to him in loving relationships and seeks to borrow their strength.

It is the blessing of love given and received that man is more often than not rescued from the depths of despair by those loving souls who offer him reassurance and hope and bend all their energies to helping him solve the problems which so distress him. They cannot fully answer the questions which bedevil his mind, but they offer a release from anxiety, from depression and despair. They offer new hope, and the soul in distress finds in this heartfelt aid partial response to his questions. He realizes that in some ways the problems he encounters in his daily existence can be blessings in disguise, for they bring to him awareness of the love that surrounds him, the love that offers sympathy and understanding, and always all that is needed in material support. He achieves a richness of emotional awareness and an increased gratitude for the selflessness of the love that has been offered to him in his need.

Thus man progresses through trial to understanding to acceptance of the wonder of love, of its power to transform the most trying of experiences into a glorious realization of the power of the soul to triumph, to know the perfection of love shared, and to see clearly the wonder of progression.

Friday, 12/11/98 10:25PM - Divine Nature

During the course of human life man in his infinite variety experiences all that he has chosen to know in this life. It is difficult for the mortal mind to encompass the vast numbers involved in the human experience over so long a time as earth has known habitation. It is difficult for man to look outward and to envision the enormous differences that exist among his brothers. There are pockets in the world today primitive in their ways existing on the same small planet earth with others critically advanced in scientific method and awareness.

Regardless of the culture, there are those human brothers who exist in need while others know a surfeit of material riches.

Such variety in human existence is a source of concern for those who would like to comprehend fully the reason for life. The answers to this basic and basically unanswerable question must await man's greater enlightenment, but he is well advised if he remembers that the richest of men materially may be the poorest spiritually, that the wisest of men intellectually may be the poorest spiritually, that the most sophisticated of men mentally may be the most naive spiritually.

I do not suggest that there is a necessary dichotomy between the mind and the spirit. Many wise man are able to reconcile the two, but the world is too willing to use as a standard of measurement worldly success whether it be in monetary, social, or professional standards. This is neither wise nor enlightened. Man in his earthly journey is surrounded materially as he chose before coming to this life. His spiritual journey is the measure of his success. In this he strives against all odds to maintain a steady faith in the miracle of love given and received in all his earthly relationships, in all his daily encounters.

There are times when the world recognizes the soul who epitomizes the miracle of progression against all odds, and this recognition is commendable, but all too often the worthy soul labors silently and without recognition progresses, and the world is poorer for not having recognized his greatness.

So, My beloved children, be aware of the blessing that life offers all men in the embrace of love, of love lived in daily human existence and of love divinely ordained.

Saturday, 12/19/98 11:40PM - Divine Nature

In his tolerance, man reflects the divine nature of his being. There is in the divine plan no room for intolerance, for the harsh judgments that divide men and lead to hurtful encounters. It is totally within the capacity of all souls come to earth to live in peace, to accept fully all the differences that mark his neighbor. He is at all times called upon to respect each and every difference and to bring to all his relationships with his fellow man the tolerant acceptance that peaceful coexistence demands and to expect tolerance in return.

All too often the soul in progress is tempted to forget this absolute demand for tolerant love and permits himself to be fearful rather than respectful of the differences that separate him from his neighbor. He begins to know the hesitance that is the precursor to rejection. He begins to see danger where danger does not exist. He finds those different from himself threatening in various degrees and he lets his heart harden. Far from feeling love for those he regards as alien and therefore less than worthy, he entertains feelings of hostility, hostility born in fear of the brother whose only sin is the sin of difference, thereby not a sin at all.

Man is infinitely diverse in many ways, and in this very diversity there is beauty and richness. In this diversity is constant opportunity for learning. When man embraces all those who are part of the brotherhood of man regardless of color, creed, or cultural variance, he lives in love as he is meant to. He recognizes that there is no ground for fear in his relationships with others who are different from him in various ways. He recognizes the pure goodness inherent in tolerant acceptance. He gains in tolerance by offering tolerance.

Man has much to learn from those who challenge his tolerance. He is the richer in all ways for this learning.

Wednesday, 12/23/98 11:47PM - Divine Nature

Love is infinite in its giving. Love is all things to all men. Love is eternal. It cannot be erased. It is never wasted. Love begets love and knows increase joyfully. Love feeds the soul and inspires the mind. There is no end to the miracle of love. It sustains. It devours hatred. It buoys the spirit in all ways.

Man in his voyage through life learns all these things about love. He knows that there is no greater gift to both the giver and to the receiver. When he is tempted to forget the power of love he needs only to be reminded to be freshly aware. When man does not respond to reminder and fails to act in love, he loses a part of himself. His life becomes emptier, and nothing but renewed love can rescue him from this vacancy.

There are times when man does indeed lose his awareness of the absolute necessity of love to sustain him in goodness and in grace, when he listens to the inner voices persuading him that he can survive without love, that his road to happiness lies in self absorption and in self indulgence. He fills his life with empty pleasure and forgets the absolute admonition that nothing can replace the power of love, that no material richness equals the richness of love.

The fortunate man is one who before it is too late, before his capacity for love has withered, realizes the errors of his life and returns to the path of love given and received, and in this return recovers the spiritual robustness that he had thought lost for good. Fortunate is the man who finds willing hearts responding to his need and guiding and encouraging him in the full expression of love shared.

There are some souls who do lose their way in this life, who let their souls grow barren and who refuse to believe themselves fallible. These unfortunate few must wait until they have passed from this life for full awareness of how erroneous their conduct has been, how misguided they have been in the ways of love, and they must begin anew to learn the lessons of love neglected and scorned in the life just past. For these souls there is new hope in new effort, and they are belatedly aware of the importance of love.

Sunday, 1/17/99 10:27PM - Divine Nature

Each day of each human life is a milestone. The most apparently insignificant of days is precious in and of itself, for it offers under any and all circumstances countless opportunities for the soul to turn with words of love to all those whose love he knows both on earth and eternally.

It is a truth not to be lightly dismissed that the most desolate and deprived of men knows a kinship with the Creator that is not to be superseded. The richest and most privileged of men too may know this divine closeness. No man is denied this possibility. No man is granted this gift with condition.

It is true that those who know wealth and power in human life are often so distracted by the measure of material well being that they enjoy that they are tempted to feel that no more is needed to bring them to perfect happiness. One has only to read of the rich and powerful to know the folly in this assumption. It is equally true that poverty and deprivation does not automatically confer upon man heightened awareness of his divine mission in life, nor does it insure a safe and successful spiritual journey. In both cases, and in all that lies between, man is freely offered the opportunity to know happiness and spiritual progress by living a life of selfless giving whatever his material circumstances, whatever his earthly success.

It is a measure of God's love for all His children that they are offered infinitely the chance to know true earthly happiness by living a life of love and progressing rapidly to spiritual perfection and faultless joy. Indeed, the soul needs to remember always that no matter the length of the journey through life, no matter the degree of ease or difficulty, no matter the errors of commission or omission, the reason for human existence is to learn all that is needed for eternal belonging, for the oneness that is the be all and end all.

Monday, 1/18/99 11:24PM - Divine Nature

There is beauty in all of human life even when this beauty is most difficult to perceive in the midst of earthly travail. Man suffering as he does so often in his journey through life is a creature to be envied if he accepts the trials he faces with a heart full of love and a mind determined to best serve him and those he loves. It is not difficult, perhaps, to comprehend the logic in the axiom that earthly success may be a barrier to spiritual progress. Conversely, it is not difficult to equate earthly suffering with spiritual success. Man tends to find that the human who is beset by difficulties, sorely tried in all ways, is experiencing earthly travail as a prelude to spiritual success, that each human deprivation finds its reward in heavenly largess.

While there is a measure of truth in this interpretative oversimplification, it is equally true that there are glaring exceptions to this assumption. Many humans who know material success accept their good fortune in the purest of gratitude and seek to share in all ways with those less endowed with worldly goods. Conversely, among the most materially deprived one can find souls who, having lost awareness of this divine relationship and the promises they made, become bitter at the deprivation they know and fall utterly into despair. They forsake all their human responsibilities and neglect those dependent upon them for all things, primarily the gift of love. Such men find bitterness a friend and neglect in all ways their inborn capacity for a loving response to all that life offers and demands.

So runs the cycle of life. The man who remembers his divine origins and his firm intent to live in love and sharing is the man blessed in all ways whether he be rich or poor, sick or well. The man enticed into rebellion against the divine will finds himself deserted and lonely. Having served well those who sought to dominate him in the path of iniquity and rebellion, he finds himself seeking answers to his spiritual stagnation and human desperation. He finds in time the answers he seeks, but he is acutely aware of lost opportunity.

Man in his capriciousness chances much when he departs from the habits of goodness and grace. In time all men recognize their erroneous ways, and in time all return to the awareness they so easily discarded earlier in their life experience. In the end, all men are equal, but some are to be envied in their progression.

Monday, 2/8/99 11:37PM - Divine Nature

Chief among man's divine traits is his capacity for compassion. Hardly a man has ever existed who has not known the perfect love for his fellow man in trouble that we call compassion. Into the hardest of hearts comes this virtuous recognition of the needs of another of his worthy brethren, and in this awareness of his brother's need, in the full sense of pity that fills his soul, he reaches out and offers all he can to soothe the pain and ease the recovery of a suffering fellow human. This is compassion.

All the world profits by compassion. The suffering profit from the help and comfort freely given by the soul touched to feeling and action by their misery. Those who reach out a hand and so identify with the need of a fellow man are enriched in awareness and caring. All profit. All learn. All respond to love.

Often compassion leads to fuller understanding of the needs of others and results in a sense of understanding that fosters tolerance and the beginnings of love. Once man is capable of so identifying with his brother that he feels his needs and his suffering as if they were his own, he has taken a gigantic step on his path to perfection. Once he has achieved this kind of sympathetic caring, he finds it difficult to ignore the needs he sees in the world around him, and his actions become a sympathetic response to all the need he encounters.

Let it be said that such a response is inspiring in many ways. It strengthens the giver. It inspires and encourages others to follow his example and to thereby enrich their lives. It creates in the needy a feeling of worth. Their hearts are filled with gratitude that only the caring of others can inspire. The world becomes a better place.

Tuesday, 2/9/99 11:55PM - Divine Nature

There is always a tenderness in the human spirit. The soul come to a life of its own choosing to learn all necessary lessons brings with it qualities and capacities that are rooted in divine origin. Tenderness is one of these. This is a quality of character fragile in nature, easily bruised, easily destroyed, and yet the great majority of souls in progress retain this wondrous quality and enrich their lives and the lives of all they know by its appeal and its infectiousness.

Tenderness is a vital part of the start of human life. The infant by its very helplessness inspires tenderness in all but the most hardened of hearts. The child growing into maturity continues to inspire feelings of tender protectiveness in the hearts of those who know and love them.

Perhaps the most poignant feelings of tenderness emerge when two souls grown to adulthood know the power and persuasion of love for each other that dictates the path they choose to take. They indulge themselves, in a sense, by their conviction that the love they feel for each other is unique, that no others have known this incredible sense of loving need. Chief among the feelings that this love animates is one of overwhelming tenderness, a total need to protect the loved one from all harm and unpleasantness. This is a time in each human life of exquisite pleasure in belonging, in the giving and receiving of love, in the tender caring that feeds the soul.

Be aware, then, that this sweet sentiment is the source of great enrichment in human life, that it binds in love all those who share tender feelings each for the other, and that so long as it is nurtured it will immeasurably enrich.

Sunday, 2/28/99 11:27PM - Divine Nature

It is of the utmost importance that man look upon his brother with eyes of love and that he see in this divine creature all that he is and desires to be.

The world is often cruel in its assessments. It is all too easy for man in this present day to look upon his brother and to see differences between them that offer him the opportunity for judgment inimical in every way. Man chooses all too often to look upon his own characteristics as superior to all those different. The next step in this self judgment is to find others lacking in each way that they differ from what he has chosen to feel is ideal.

Thus is prejudice born. It is not within man's capacity to see honestly the origins of prejudice in all too many cases. It is easy for man to slip into error in this way and to destroy the very fabric of society by his failure to recognize his brothers in full equality and to thereby encourage division, dissension, and hatred.

Hatred is an insidious emotion. It is so easy when men abandon, for whatever reason, the bonds of love that marked the start of life to surrender to baser emotions. Chief among these base emotions is hatred. It is an attitude easily assumed, tenacious in its nature, and totally destructive. There is no basis for hatred, even less understandable when it is based purely on physical difference.

All men are essentially identical in their physical nature, in their strengths and in their limitations. There is no basis whatsoever for those choosing to discriminate against their brothers for physical characteristics. No man is born superior in color. No man is born superior in race. No man is born genetically superior. No man is born genetically inferior.

Let all men acknowledge the absolute equality of all men born to human life and let them live their lives accordingly. Let them speak out in this matter.

Tuesday, 3/2/99 11:32PM - Divine nature

Chief among man's characteristics is his ability to forgive error and transgression. This capacity is tried often in the course of each life, and it sometimes tries the soul to summon forgiveness when it is badly needed.

It is important to remember the dual nature of forgiveness. The sinner, if one can call him that, craves forgiveness for his errors and omissions once he has recognized the error of his ways. He seeks peace and reconciliation. The offended is hesitant to grant this favor. Having been once abused and betrayed and wounded, the soul in progress feels vulnerable and unwilling to be further hurt. Yet even in the most extreme situations the individual who has suffered injury in any way longs for an end to bitterness and regret, and even when it seems like the most remote of possibilities harbors within his being a need to forgive and to effect reunion.

Sometimes it is not even necessary for this need to be expressed and not to be exactly verbalized. Each of the parties alienated from each other, no matter the reason, no matter the degree of insult and injury, feels a compulsion to heal the wounds that separate them, to achieve the peace of mind and soul that comes only with an end to enmity and resentment.

It is often difficult for man to set aside pride and worldly concerns and to know fully his need to reach a peaceful solution to all relationships which involve hostility and hurt. Sometimes man in his folly allows such alienation to fester, to color all his life's experiences, and to take from him the sense of peaceful and gratifying coexistence that life offers to the accepting soul.

Often the moment of forgiveness and reconciliation is dramatic and forceful. Sometimes it is silent and unstated. In all cases it nourishes the soul and speeds him on his way. Peace of mind and heart is his immediate reward, along with the love that is restored.

Friday, 3/12/99 11:07PM - Divine Nature

It is at all times part of man's nature to seek further understanding of all his earthly experience. It is vitally important to him to be able to accept all that life offers, for good or for bad, and man is naturally led to base this acceptance on understanding whenever it is possible to do so.

Often man in examining all that has befallen him can find reason in past errors he has made. In retrospect he sees clearly where he has erred, and he realizes that he alone is responsible for the resulting difficulties. On the other hand, man is at times hard pressed to understand earthly trials. He tries to analyze his behavior to seek cause, and he is unable to justify the ills he knows as a result of bad judgment or misconduct on his part. Under these circumstances he finds himself unable to explain his fate and is hard pressed to accept as justifiable what he cannot understand.

It is at this point that man finds peace in the realization that every difficulty has its reason and that each time he is called upon to accept and to solve difficulties he gains in strength and understanding. Not always does man accept immediately the virtue of hardship, but when he pauses in retrospection he begins to appreciate the strengthening nature of challenge met, accepted, and overcome.

Whenever man knows trial he is blessed if it leads to awareness of all he has to gain by full acceptance of all that is asked of him and full awareness of all he gains in this acceptance.

Struggle is implicit in human existence and is fruitful in all it offers to man who emerges victorious and wiser in the end.

Saturday, 3/13/99 11:55PM - Divine Nature

There are many things that perplex man on his earthly journey. At the start of life he finds life simple and easily accepted whatever its nature. Some new souls are granted lives of comfort and of assurance. Others enter life with sad lacks that affect their very survival. In all cases, from one extreme to the other, the soul in question is born into a life of its own choosing, a life of varied challenge, a life of ease or difficulty, a life of conflict or peace, all in accordance with divine origin.

Perhaps it is regrettable that the soul come to human life does not retain memory of all it has undertaken in new life, but it is the essence of human experience that no memory be retained, that the soul come to life confront each difficulty with full awareness of its strength to endure but with no feeling of responsibility of choice of difficulty encountered.

The nature of man's experience varies so widely that there is little capacity in one man to understand the nature of another's chosen challenges. It may be difficult for man to conceive of the fact that in the fullness of human existence, in the vastness of historical experience, no two men are identical. It is part of the divine will that each soul possess an identity that is unique. No man resembles his brother perfectly. No man experiences human life in exactly the same way as any other.

It is understandably difficult for the human mind to comprehend such complexity and such diversity, and yet in its basic simplicity science has established the singular identity of each soul come to earth in physical attribution. Is it not simple to recognize that celestial identity is even more perfect in all ways? No man finds it possible in the world of scientific marvel to deny the absolute uniqueness of each man born to human life. How is it possible to deny the eternal heritage, the boundless nature each of God's unique children knows as absolute heritage?

Man's perplexity will find answers divine, and in these answers he will know the fullness of wisdom shared divinely. He will need no more.

Tuesday, 4/6/99 11:25PM - Divine Nature

In the final analysis each man makes of his life as he nears its end and often before that time, it becomes apparent to him that all of experience he has known pertains to love in all its aspects. He looks back to his early years and rejoices in its richness or regrets its deprivations. In each case he remembers the lessons learned that guided him in the years to follow. At all times he is aware of the central significance in his life of love given and received. Again he rejoices in all he has known of love and yearns for the experience of love denied him.

No matter the degree of deprivation, man never ceases to seek for love and never ceases to be aware of its vital necessity to his happiness. The soul granted love early in life finds all that follows infinitely enriched. The soul deprived of love follows a more difficult path. Yet he knows in his soul that he must continue to seek this vital necessity. He seeks always the grace to know the perfection of love freely given and gratefully received.

The soul seeking love is intent always. Yet this search is often interrupted by mishap and distraction. There are times when the soul seeking love finds itself beguiled by false hope and subsequent disappointment. There are times when the soul is betrayed in its trust and the love offered is illy treated. It is easy for the soul so rebuffed and deceived to lose hope and to be led astray. If this happens the error the soul knows is most often easily detected and rejected.

No soul lingers indefinitely in the desert that is the absence of love. No soul knows deprivation beyond endurance. No matter how much or how often the soul is distracted from its pursuit of love entire, it in the end is assured total gratification and infinite pleasure.

It is wisdom for man on his earthly voyage to persist in the pursuit of love given and received and to know that in the end this pursuit cannot know failure. Patience may be demanded. Difficulties may cause delay. Discouragement may impede progress. Yet each soul, each wondrous soul become man, is destined to know the total glory of love in all ways. No soul stops short of absolute satisfaction.

Monday, 4/19/99 9:07PM - Divine Nature

Man is capable of endless trust. He is born trusting. He matures from infancy to adulthood trusting. No matter how often this trust is tried and betrayed, seldom does man lose this divine capacity. Trust begets trust, and when nurtured enriches each relationship and each experience during human existence. Trust is implicit in each action each day.

Trust takes many forms. All men are inclined to trust their leaders, those who control them from afar, and if man knows cause to mistrust one leader he quickly seeks to find another worthy of his trust. In each experience in every day life, trust is essential. The shopkeeper trusts his customers and they in turn trust him. The teacher trusts his students and expects their trust in return. Within the family trust is all important and mutually experienced. Friendship cannot survive without trust.

When, and unfortunately this occurs, trust is betrayed, man experiences first a sense of disbelief, and when he is at last forced to recognize that his trust has been abused, he knows pain. It is not a simple matter to rebuild trust, but it is essential to do so. The man without trust is a fearful man, and the fearful man finds it difficult to love. Thus love is dependent upon trust.

It is the happy man whose capacity for trust survives all trial and sustains him in all his relationships.

Tuesday, 4/20/99 11:56PM - Divine Nature

In a world that seems at times to have surrendered to base emotion, to the temptation that puts love behind all other motivations, man does well to look about him and to measure.

Let him regard the world about him and let him consider sheer numbers. How many of those he knows, be they near or distant, are motivated by ignoble desires and utter selfishness? How many of those he knows live in contentment and love, aware always of the need to live in peace and faith in the goodness of their brothers? When this accounting is complete, man will be aware once again of the overwhelming numbers that souls devoted to the concept of living in love have over those who have chosen lives of self aggrandizement and disregard of their brothers.

Thus bolstered, man has good cause for optimism. He has reason to believe that goodness and grace by their very strengths will triumph and that those souls lost to greed and uncaring will know the bitterness of defeat.

Man must be patient in this reckoning. All too often time passes without clear affirmation of the triumph of those souls devoted to goodness over all those forces arrayed against them. Yet there is no impatience in awaiting this victory, for however tortured the course of history, however many setbacks and defeats the forces of good will know, the end is at all times predictable. Right will triumph. Goodness will prevail. Love will be the law of the land, and all will rejoice in the infinite blessings that love affords.

This is no idle dream. This is no fictional utopia. This is the world to come, and in its perfection man will find perfect peace.

Wednesday, 4/21/99 11:55PM - Divine Nature

Man is heroic in many ways. He meets the challenges of life with strength and integrity and calls upon all he knows in strength to survive and to protect all dear to him from deprivation and sorrow. He acknowledges the trials of life with forbearance and a tenacity that enables him to emerge each time with a triumphant awareness of all he is given and all he has to give. He meets sorrow and disappointment with all faith that a better time is coming and with determination to do all that is within his power to overcome all threats to those he loves.

Not all of man's heroic achievements are notable in the sense of being widely acknowledged, but the fabric of human existence is enriched and strengthened by all the heroic acts of man that go unnoticed except by those intimately involved. These heroes lack recognition from the greater world, but they know infinite gratitude from those who are affected by their brave goodness.

It is difficult for a man to regard himself as heroic for doing what he regards as all that is expected of him in the normal course of events. It is difficult for him to regard himself as anything but ordinary, and it is as an ordinary man that he achieves heroic status in the eyes of those who observe his struggles and his triumphs.

There is a greatness inherent in modesty among those who could lay claim to greatness, and there is a certain justice in the sure fact that these silent and modest heroes know in their souls the peace and satisfaction that makes a triumph of human existence.

Look then to those about you, to those who meet all challenges with modesty and strength and who lend a sense of security and assurance to all those who depend upon them. Be pleased with yourself if you are one of these silent heroes. Know that your goodness does not go unrewarded, for your soul speaks to you of your worth and those you love and who love you know your greatness.

Friday, 5/28/99 11:51 PM - Divine Nature

Even in the midst of misery and want, man retains awareness of his divine origin, of the spark within his soul that tells him of his significance, of his link with all those who surround him and all those who observe from afar his progress in a world that seems at times alien and inhospitable. The poorest of men materially sometimes know a certainty of their worth that escapes their more materially gifted brothers.

This is a gift innate. This is awareness granted to all those who choose to live in earthly existence. It is an inborn quality. No soul new to human life knows feelings of inferiority. Quite the opposite is true. The soul new to earth is infinitely secure, infinitely optimistic, infinitely powerful in its faith. Inferiority is learned. It is a lesson harshly inflicted by those who have forgotten man's first obligation in human existence. They have forgotten their absolute promise to act in love and to treat each of their brothers as one in all ways.

The world transformed into the deprived and the privileged, the exploited and the exploiter, the downtrodden and the exalted is, then, the product of man in his arrogance, in his total disregard of his promise, in unconscionable exercise of his free will. This is injustice.

Yet there is eternal justice which does not tolerate the inequities of human existence without loving redress. All those who live their lives in disregard of the need to love and be loved may enjoy material advantages. but they live each day with empty hearts and their transition in the next life brings with it awareness of failure and infinite remorse.

Tuesday, 7/6/99 11:02PM - Divine Nature

There is infinite forgiveness in the heart of man. This is a gift inherent in the human experience, a gift of enormous value and constant enrichment. Man is called upon constantly to forgive in his earthly experience, whether it be a simple slight or an overwhelming injustice inflicted upon him.

When man neglects this gift, this capacity to accept injury without resentment, he hurts himself first of all. Resentment is a constant danger. It threatens man's peace of mind. It colors relationships. It alienates. It corrodes the soul. Once man fails in forgiveness and considers himself so aggrieved that no forgiveness is possible, he starts down a road that is fatal to his well being. The fortunate soul recognizes error before resentment and lack of forgiveness become habitual. He is saved by this recognition from a life darkened by animosity and resentment.

Forgiveness must become a habit as surely as breathing is a habit. The forgiving soul reaches out to the offender in love and understanding, and instantly both are enriched. The offender rues his error and is determined not to repeat such error. The forgiver knows the peace of understanding and is enriched by this understanding and accepting love. Each knows gratitude for love expressed. Each knows new direction.

There is no limit to man's capacity to forgive human error and to embrace fully the man who wrongs him, whether deliberately or inadvertently. In this forgiving response there is no loser. Both parties are enriched beyond measure and strengthened in their capacity to both give and receive forgiveness.

Thus man progresses.

Thursday, 7/8/99 11:44PM - Divine Nature

At all times it is man's joy to seek happiness in the service of others. There is such a joy in meeting the needs of others, whether the need be small or great, temporary or permanent.

Each man finds his own way to serve others. For some, service is centered within the family and man gladly assumes all needful responsibility whether he serves as parent, care giver, sibling or in other relationships. He senses and meets the needs unique to his position within the family, both immediate and extended. Ideally there is a mutually agreeable and mutually advantageous sharing of family responsibilities, and all are enriched by both the giving and the receiving of loving response to need.

In the workplace man finds varied ways to serve his brother. Whether he chooses to be of service in the fields of medicine, education, public service or a myriad of other occupations, he finds both pride and pleasure in his work to the extent that he finds himself useful to others. He prides himself on his accomplishments and he relishes the gratitude that his work inspires. In all fields of endeavor man finds himself fulfilled in being of such service to others that he pleases himself always by pleasing others.

In the general community there are infinite possibilities to be helpful and enriching in the service of others. Organizations and societies abound to facilitate this loving concern for the well being of others. Once again, such service is the source of great satisfaction to all involved.

The world is a better place for each man who knows love in his heart for his fellow man and who seeks to express this love in acts of caring.

Sunday, 7/18/99 10:32PM - Divine Nature

Within the range of human emotion, love reigns supreme. It is the source of all joy for man from his first breath to his last. Ideally man should know no other emotion, but part of his learning is learning to control those other emotions of which he is capable and which threaten his equanimity and his feelings of love.

Chief among those emotions that man must at all times learn to control is anger. No emotion is more destructive. Love cannot exist in an angry heart. Love is driven out by anger so completely that man possessed by feelings of anger finds it difficult to recapture the peacefulness of living in love.

Anger may be fueled in many ways. Man is quick to respond to insult and injury with anger. In the height of emotion he forgets completely his capacity for understanding and conciliation. His anger fuels an angry response and conflict is born. There are no peaceful answers to conflict in the presence of anger.

Man must learn to control all tendency he might have to feel anger and to act in anger, for anger has an insidious way of becoming habitual. When this happens, the struggle to overcome anger becomes very difficult, and the mind is constantly defensive and distracted. The angry man finds himself isolated and deprived of the love that is still a necessity to him.

Awareness of the destructive nature of anger is the first step in controlling this emotion. It is essential that this first step be followed by others until the angry man is once more capable of a loving response to all he encounters in life and knows the peaceful nature that makes his life rich and happy.

Friday, 8/6/99 11:59PM - Divine Nature

Remembering past errors, man inevitably feels regret. Even if he finds it within his awareness to forgive himself, even if he is fully aware of justification of his actions, still he harbors regret. He wonders why he did not find within himself the capacity for acceptance and forgiveness of insult and error. He wonders why his lack of forgiveness was cause for magnification of error and increased regret on all parts.

To forgive is a divine attribute. To forgive freely without consideration of fault is truly perfect in its divinity. All men at times in their lives experience this perfection. Love dictates forgiveness regardless of the gravity of the offense, regardless of the degree of injury. When man finds himself capable of this forgiveness, divine in its nature, superb in its effectiveness, contagious in its infectiousness, he knows within himself the greatness of his achievement.

Even when he is not fully aware of the extent of his influence, he needs to know that even without outward approval he finds in his heart the peace and triumph that his goodness has given to him. He rests content that he has taken a giant step in forgiveness and compassionate love without condition. He knows that he loves himself for all he has offered to others in love complete and perfect in its giving.

Man thus achieves the perfection he comes to this world to find. Each step marks progress in his spiritual search, and each step taken in love makes the next step more certain in its all enveloping dedication to the divine concept that love is all, that love in its purest form is the ultimate achievement of all souls, that total joy awaits.

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

It is of the utmost importance that each man in the course of his human journey discover within himself his capacity for unselfish concern for others even when it is costly to him.

There are numerous opportunities in each life to make this discovery. The opportunity may be so subtle as to involve little choice. Man responds to need naturally, and when there is no reason to hesitate he seeks always to aid those in need. It is when man must choose between the need of another and his own desires and well being that he is called upon to make a difficult decision. He is free to choose always.

The nature of his choice may determine much. If even at the expense of his own security and comfort he chooses to respond to need, he knows instantly in his own heart the sense of satisfaction that is generated by generosity and caring beyond sense of self. If, on the other hand, man refuses his brother in order to protect his own welfare, he knows instantly that he lacks the goodness he thought he possessed. He is racked by regret in some cases and resolves to be more generous in the future. In other cases man, having refused his brother once finds it easier to refuse him the next time, and he finds himself insulated from fellow feeling. In time he may recognize the sterility of his existence and find it within himself to amend his ways and open his heart to the needs of others.

The most unfortunate of souls does not reach this awareness and persists in selfish ways to the detriment of his spiritual well being. He is to be pitied. He never knows the true joy of giving.

Tuesday, 8/24/99 11:15PM - Divine Nature

Among man's many challenges in his human journey is that of resisting prejudice or fear which inspires intolerance. It is in the nature of man to desire a feeling of security. All too often this need manifests itself in proclaiming certainty in one's own values and beliefs in a way which labels all those who disagree wrong-headed and misled, erroneous in all ways which differ.

Let it be said that such intolerance is based in ignorance and in total disregard of the truth of universal love and brotherhood. God does not reward narrow beliefs and rejection of differences. He sees good in all striving for spiritual progress and would remind man and all those who seek to guide and persuade him that there are many roads open and pleasing to all those who seek to live in perfect harmony with their God and with their brother.

Narrow sectarianism has no place in the heart of man. While he may choose freely his beliefs and affiliations, he should not forget that his brother may choose differently but that his brother is equally deserving of respect and acceptance. Man all too often forgets this necessity. He all too often fails in acceptance of the alien beliefs of his brother and therefore deprives himself of the opportunity to live in perfect love.

Throughout history and to the present day man has deceived himself by proclaiming himself uniquely qualified to speak the will of God. When the self proclaimed messenger from God speaks impatiently, intolerantly, arrogantly, know that he does not speak truth.

Friday, 9/17/99 1:37AM

In the midst of life, man often finds himself baffled. He looks about him and he is puzzled by what he observes. To all outward appearances, virtue may be its own reward, as the saying goes, but virtue all too often is not rewarded in other ways. He sees those in power behaving less than admirably. He sees riches bestowed upon those who are least able to use them wisely. He sees a world seemingly intent upon enjoying itself at all costs, caring little for those around them who are less blessed with life's pleasures and riches.

This, then, is the surface. Often the casual observer is not allowed to see beneath the surface, and so he is unaware of the deceptiveness of what he sees. Were he able to penetrate the superficial, he would be aware of the fact that man endowed with worldly goods often harbors in his heart frustration and unhappiness that no degree of earthly benefit can cure or soothe. He would be amazed to know that those seemingly consumed by material concern, intent on having their every desire fulfilled, are often restless in their seeking, constantly unfulfilled and constantly seeking new satisfactions.

This, then, is a lesson for all men. What on the surface appears to be rich gratification may indeed conceal need. What appears to be pleasure may be counterfeiting pain and insecurity. What appears to be plenty may indeed be poverty. There is a divine balance in all of life, not always discernible, but truth to be discovered.

© 2010 Cornelia Silke dba New Light Publishing