AT HOME.

Don't be afraid--You are at home--Not here by chance--You belong

here--YOU are the soul--YOU cannot be hurt--YOU cannot be

banished--YOU are right in the universe, and there is no

outside--Great things are before you--Make yourself at home.

Don't be afraid. You're living in your own home. This Universe was

built for you to inhabit--to occupy--to enjoy. Do not feel

strange--make yourself at home. The wonderful laws of nature--those

which have been discovered, and those which remain to be

discovered--are all laws for your use, when you grow large enough to

understand how to make use of them.

Did you think you were here by chance, or that you were an alien? If

so, learn better. You are to the manor born--you are the heir.

Everything around the place is for your use, when you grow up. No one

can dispossess you--no one can put you out. You are at home.

Do you long for another home? Do you fret and chafe at the trials and

troubles of this world, and imagine that somewhere else things will be

better? Well, they'll never be better for you until you have met and

conquered the trials and troubles of this place. You are just where

you belong. You are surrounded with just the things you need. You are

getting just what you deserve. And until you learn the truth of this,

you will have the same surroundings--the same environments. And then

when you learn that the things around you are all right--that you are

being treated justly--that you are getting just what you have

attracted, and are attracting, to yourself--then you will be ready for

the next step in the journey, and you will have new surroundings and

new environments--new tasks--new lessons--new pleasures.

I hear some of you talking about Death. You seem to think that you

will be another order of being as soon as you take your last breath

upon earth. You talk about being a "spirit," bye-and-bye. Do I believe

this? Of course, I believe it. I _know_ it. But I also know something

else, and that is that you are a spirit now, just as much as you will

be in another world. Did you think that some wonderful essence was

going to grow from you, and that that essence would be what you call a

spirit? Nonsense! YOU are the spirit, and the not-you part which will

be discarded never was you. The You which says I AM is the real

thing--the real self--and the rest of you is but tools and instruments

which YOU are using. Why can't you see this? You talk about "my soul,"

"my spirit," and so on. You make me tired. Why, the thing which is

thinking and speaking--YOU--is the "soul" or "spirit" of which you are

talking. You talk as if the physical part of you, which is changing

continually, was you. You are like the boy with the old knife. He was

continually having the knife repaired. He had had seven new blades and

three new handles put on it, and yet it was the same old knife. Why,

you could step right out of your body (and maybe you do, more than you

have any idea of) and it would be the same old YOU. You could discard

your body just as you do your clothes, and yet YOU would be the same

individual. There is a wonderful difference between individuality and

personality. One you cannot get rid of; the other may be changed.

What's the use in being afraid? Nobody can hurt the real YOU. You

cannot be wiped out of existence. If a single spirit atom should be

destroyed, the entire structure would smash up. You cannot be banished

from the Universe, for there's nowhere else to put you. You cannot get

outside of the Universe, for _there's no outside_. There's no place

for you outside of everywhere.

And you talk about time and eternity. Why, you're in eternity right

now. You are right in it this moment. It is always to-day--to-morrow

never comes. And you are right at home in the Universe, and always

will be. You are always there, for there's nowhere else to go.

So what's the use in being afraid? Who's going to hurt you? They

can't kill YOU. They can't put you out of existence. They cannot

expel you from the Universe. So what are they going to do about it

anyhow? And, after all, who are "They?" You talk as if there were

outside forces and influences antagonistic to you. Outside of

what? No matter what beings of earth or air there may be, they

are creatures like yourself. They are all a part of the Whole

Thing--all made of the same material--all come from the hand of

the same maker--you are all cut from the same piece of goods. The

apparent differences are illusions--the difference and separateness

is only relative, and not actual.

So, make yourself at home. Take a look around and see what a nice bit

of the Universe you have to live in. Some of your family have been

trying to occupy the whole house instead of only their share of it,

but those things are gradually working out, and all will be better

within a comparatively short time. This is going to be a better world

to live in when men take time to think a little. And you'll be around

to enjoy it when it comes--never fear. You cannot get away, even if

you want to.

And, what's the use of waiting for to-morrow. There's lots of things

in which you can find happiness to-day, if you will only stop worrying

about to-morrow. The little child knows more about enjoying life than

you do. The little child feels at home anywhere and starts in to enjoy

it, and get the most out of it, until he grows old enough to be

hypnotized by the race belief.

You are at home here. Just as much at home as is the fish in the

sea--the bird in the air. Realize this, and make the most of it. Stop

being afraid. Stop fretting. Stop worrying. Realize that yesterday,

to-day, and to-morrow, you are here in the Universe. It's a good

Universe, and it grows better as man grows in wisdom to take advantage

of its goodness. And it is not yet "sun-up" here. Great things are

before us. And you will see them and take part in them. Make yourself

at home, for you're going to be around here for some time.