This is the Spirit of Infinite Peace, and the moment we come into
harmony with it there comes to us an inflowing tide of peace, for peace
is harmony. A deep interior meaning underlies the great truth, "To be
spiritually minded is life and peace." To recognize the fact that we
are spirit, and to live in this thought, is to be spiritually minded,
and so to be in harmony and peace. Oh, the thousands of men and women
all about us weary with care, troubled and ill at ease, running hither
and thither to find peace, weary in body, soul, and mind; going to
other countries, traveling the world over, coming back, and still not
finding it. Of course they have not found it and they never will find
it in this way, because they are looking for it where it is not. They
are looking for it without when they should look within. Peace is to
be found only within, and unless one find it there he will never find
it at all.
Peace lies not in the external world. It lies within one's own soul.
We may travel over many different avenues in pursuit of it, we may seek
it through the channels of the bodily appetites and passions, we may
seek it through all the channels of the external, we may chase for it
hither and thither, but it will always be just beyond our grasp,
because we are searching for it where it is not. In the degree,
however, that we order the bodily appetites and passions in accordance
with the promptings of the soul within will the higher forms of
happiness and peace enter our lives; but in the degree that we fail in
doing this will disease, suffering, and discontent enter in.
To be at one with God is to be at peace. The child simplicity is the
greatest agency in bringing this full and complete realization, the
child simplicity that recognizes its true relations with the Father's
life. There are people I know who have come into such a conscious
realization of their oneness with this Infinite Life, this Spirit of
Infinite Peace, that their lives are fairly bubbling over with joy. I
have particularly in mind at this moment a comparatively young man who
was an invalid for several years, his health completely broken with
nervous exhaustion, who thought there was nothing in life worth living
for, to whom everything and everybody presented a gloomy aspect, and he
in turn presented a gloomy aspect to all with whom he came in contact.
Not long ago he came into such a vital realization of his oneness with
this Infinite Power, he opened himself so completely to its divine
inflow, that today he is in perfect health, and frequently as I meet
him now he cannot resist the impulse to cry out, "Oh, it is a joy to be
alive."
I know an officer on our police force who has told me that many times
when off duty and on his way home in the evening, there comes to him
such a vivid and vital realization of his oneness with this Infinite
Power, and this Spirit of Infinite Peace so takes hold of and so fills
him, that it seems as if his feet could scarcely keep to the pavement,
so buoyant and so exhilarated does he become by reason of this
inflowing tide.
He who comes into this higher realization never has any fear, for he
has always with him a sense of protection, and the very realization of
this makes his protection complete. Of him it is true,--"No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper;" "There shall no ill come
nigh thy dwelling;" "Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the
field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee."
These are the men and the women who seem to live charmed lives. The
moment we fear anything we open the door for the entrance of the
actualization of the very thing we fear. An animal will never harm a
person who is absolutely fearless in regard to it. The instant he
fears he opens himself to danger; and some animals, the dog for
example, can instantly detect the element of fear, and this gives them
the courage to do harm. In the degree that we come into a full
realization of our oneness with this Infinite Power do we become calm
and quiet, undisturbed by the little occurrences that before so vex and
annoy us. We are no longer disappointed in people, for we always read
them aright. We have the power of penetrating into their very souls
and seeing the underlying motives that are at work there.
A gentleman approached a friend the other day, and with great show of
cordiality grasped him by the hand and said, "Why, Mr. ------, I am so
glad to see you." Quick as a flash my friend read him, and looking him
steadily in the eye, replied, "No, you are mistaken, you are not glad
to see me; but you are very much disconcerted, so much so that you are
now blushing in evidence of it." The gentleman replied, "Well, you
know in this day and age of conventionality and form we have to put on
the show and sometimes make believe what we do not really feel." My
friend once more looked him in the face and said, "Again you are
mistaken. Let me give you one little word of advice: You will always
fare better and will think far more of yourself, always to recognize
and to tell the truth rather than to give yourself to any semblance of
it."
As soon as we are able to read people aright we will then cease to be
disappointed in them, we will cease to place them on pedestals, for
this can never be done without some attendant disappointment. The fall
will necessarily come, sooner or later, and moreover, we are thus many
times unfair to our friends. When we come into harmony with this
Spirit of Peace, evil reports and apparent bad treatment, either at the
hands of friends or of enemies, will no longer disturb us. When we are
conscious of the fact that in our life and our work we are true to that
eternal principle of right, of truth, of justice that runs through all
the universe, that unites and governs all, that always eventually
prevails, then nothing of this kind can come nigh us, and come what may
we will always be tranquil and undisturbed.
The things that cause sorrow, and pain, and bereavement will not be
able to take the hold of us they now take, for true wisdom will enable
us to see the proper place and know the right relations of all things.
The loss of friends by the transition we call death will not cause
sorrow to the soul that has come into this higher realization, for he
knows that there is no such thing as death, for each one is not only a
partaker, but an eternal partaker, of this Infinite Life. He knows
that the mere falling away of the physical body by no means affects the
real soul life. With a tranquil spirit born of a higher faith he can
realize for himself, and to those less strong he can say--
"Loving friends! be wise and dry
Straightway every weeping eye;
What you left upon the bier
Is not worth a single tear;
'Tis a simple sea-shell, one
Out of which the pearl has gone.
The shell was nothing, leave it there;
The pearl--the soul--was all, is here."
And so far as the element of separation is concerned, he realizes that
to spirit there are no bounds, and that spiritual communion, whether
between two persons in the body, or two persons, one in the body and
one out of the body, is within the reach of all. In the degree that
the higher spiritual life is realized can there be this higher
spiritual communion.
The things that we open ourselves to always come to us. People in the
olden times expected to see angels and they saw them; but there is no
more reason why they should have seen them than that we should see them
now; no more reason why they should come and dwell with them than that
they should come and dwell with us, for the great laws governing all
things are the same today as they were then. If angels come not to
minister unto us it is because we do not invite them, it is because we
keep the door closed through which they otherwise might enter.
In the degree that we are filled with this Spirit of Peace by thus
opening ourselves to its inflow does it pour through us, so that we
carry it with us wherever we go. In the degree that we thus open
ourselves do we become magnets to attract peace from all sources; and
in the degree that we attract and embody it in ourselves are we able to
give it forth to others. We can in this way become such perfect
embodiments of peace that wherever we go we are continually shedding
benedictions. But a day or two ago I saw a woman grasp the hand of a
man (his face showed the indwelling God), saying, "Oh, it does me so
much good to see you. I have been in anxiety and almost in despair
during the past few hours, but the very sight of you has rolled the
burden entirely away." There are people all around us who are
continually giving out blessings and comfort, persons whose mere
presence seems to change sorrow into joy, fear into courage, despair
into hope, weakness into power.
It is the one who has come into the realization of his own true self
who carries this power with him and who radiates it wherever he
goes,--the one who, as we say, has found his centre. And in all the
great universe there is but one centre,--the Infinite Power that is
working in and through all. The one who then has found his centre is
the one who has come into the realization of his oneness with this
Infinite Power, the one who recognizes himself as a spiritual being,
for God is spirit.
Such is the man of power. Centred in the Infinite, he has thereby, so
to speak, connected himself with, he has attached his belts to, the
great power-house of the universe. He is constantly drawing power to
himself from all sources. For, thus centred, knowing himself,
conscious of his own power, the thoughts that go from his mind are
thoughts of strength; and by virtue of the law that like attracts like,
he by his thoughts is continually attracting to himself from all
quarters the aid of all whose thoughts are thoughts of strength, and in
this way he is linking himself with this order of thought in the
universe.
And so to him that hath, to him shall be given. This is simply the
working of a natural law. His strong, positive, and hence constructive
thought is continually working success for him along all lines, and
continually bringing to him help from all directions. The things that
he sees, that he creates in the ideal, are through the agency of this
strong constructive thought continually clothing themselves, taking
form, manifesting themselves in the material. Silent, unseen forces
are at work which will sooner or later be made manifest in the visible.
Fear and all thoughts of failure never suggest themselves to such a
man; or if they do, they are immediately sent out of his mind, and so
he is not influenced by this order of thought from without. He does
not attract it to him. He is in another current of thought.
Consequently the weakening, failure-bringing thoughts of the fearing,
the vacillating, the pessimistic about him, have no influence upon him.
The one who is of the negative, fearing kind not only has his energies
and his physical agents weakened, or even paralyzed through the
influence of this kind of thought that is born within him, but he also
in this way connects himself with this order of thought in the world
about him. And in the degree that he does this does he become a victim
to the weak, fearing, negative minds all around him. Instead of
growing in power, he increases in weakness. He is in the same order of
thought with those of whom it is true,--and even that which they have
shall be taken away from them. This again is simply the working of a
natural law, the same as is its opposite. Fearing lest I lose even
what I have I hide it away in a napkin. Very well. I must then pay
the price of my "fearing lest I lose."
Thoughts of strength both build strength from within and attract it
from without. Thoughts of weakness actualize weakness from within and
attract it from without. Courage begets strength, fear begets
weakness. And so courage begets success, fear begets failure. It is
the man or the woman of faith, and hence of courage, who is the master
of circumstances, and who makes his or her power felt in the world. It
is the man or the woman who lacks faith and who as a consequence is
weakened and crippled by fears and forebodings, who is the creature of
all passing occurrences.
Within each one lies the cause of whatever comes to him. Each has it
in his own hands to determine what comes. Everything in the visible,
material world has its origin in the unseen, the spiritual, the thought
world. This is the world of cause, the former is the world of effect.
The nature of the effect is always in accordance with the nature of the
cause. What one lives in his invisible, thought world, he is
continually actualizing in his visible, material world. If he would
have any conditions different in the latter he must make the necessary
change in the former. A clear realization of this great fact would
bring success to thousands of men and women who all about us are now in
the depths of despair. It would bring health, abounding health and
strength to thousands now diseased and suffering. It would bring peace
and joy to thousands now unhappy and ill at ease.
And oh, the thousands all about us who are continually living in the
slavery of fear. The spirits within that should be strong and
powerful, are rendered weak and impotent. Their energies are crippled,
their efforts are paralyzed. "Fear is everywhere,--fear of want, fear
of starvation, fear of public opinion, fear of private opinion, fear
that what we own today may not be ours tomorrow, fear of sickness, fear
of death. Fear has become with millions a fixed habit. The thought is
everywhere. The thought is thrown upon us from every direction. . . .
To live in continual dread, continual cringing, continual fear of
anything, be it loss of love, loss of money, loss of position or
situation, is to take the readiest means to lose what we fear we shall."
By fear nothing is to be gained, but on the contrary, everything is to
be lost. "I know this is true," says one, "but I am given to fear;
it's natural to me and I can't help it." Can't help it! In saying
this you indicate one great reason of your fear by showing that you do
not even know yourself as yet. You must know yourself in order to know
your powers, and not until you know them can you use them wisely and
fully. Don't say you can't help it. If you think you can't, the
chances are that you can't. If you think you can, and act in
accordance with this thought, then not only are the chances that you
can, but if you act fully in accordance with it, that you can and that
you will is an absolute certainty. It was Virgil who in describing the
crew which in his mind would win the race, said of them,--They can
because they think they can. In other words, this very attitude of
mind on their part will infuse a spiritual power into their bodies that
will give them the strength and endurance which will enable them to win.
Then take the thought that you _can_; take it merely as a seed-thought,
if need be, plant it in your consciousness, tend it, cultivate it, and
it will gradually reach out and gather strength from all quarters. It
will focus and make positive and active the spiritual force within you
that is now scattered and of little avail. It will draw to itself
force from without. It will draw to your aid the influence of other
minds of its own nature, minds that are fearless, strong, courageous.
You will thus draw to yourself and connect yourself with this order of
thought. If earnest and faithful, the time will soon come when all
fear will loose its hold; and instead of being an embodiment of
weakness and a creature of circumstances, you will find yourself a
tower of strength and a master of circumstances.
We need more faith in every-day life,--faith in the power that works
for good, faith in the Infinite God, and hence faith in ourselves
created in His image. And however things at times may seem to go,
however dark at times appearances may be, the knowledge of the fact
that "the Supreme Power has us in its charge as it has the suns and
endless systems of worlds in space," will give us the supreme faith
that all is well with us, the same as all is well with the world.
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."
There is nothing firmer, and safer, and surer than Deity. Then, as we
recognize the fact that we have it in our own hands to open ourselves
ever more fully to this Infinite Power, and call upon it to manifest
itself in and through us, we will find in ourselves an ever increasing
sense of power. For in this way we are working in conjunction with it,
and it in turn is working in conjunction with us. We are then led into
the full realization of the fact that all things work together for good
to those that love the good. Then the fears and forebodings that have
dominated us in the past will be transmuted into faith, and faith when
rightly understood and rightly used is a force before which nothing can
stand.
Materialism leads naturally to pessimism. And how could it do
otherwise? A knowledge of the Spiritual Power working in and through
us as well as in and through all things, a power that works for
righteousness, leads to optimism. Pessimism leads to weakness.
Optimism leads to power. The one who is centred in Deity is the one
who not only outrides every storm, but who through the faith, and so,
the conscious power that is in him, faces storm with the same calmness
and serenity that he faces fair weather; for he knows well beforehand
what the outcome will be. He knows that underneath are the everlasting
arms. He it is who realizes the truth of the injunction, "Rest in the
Lord, wait patiently for Him and He shall give thee thy heart's
desire." All shall be given, simply given, to him who is ready to
accept it. Can anything be clearer than this?
In the degree, then, that we work in conjunction with the Supreme Power
do we need the less to concern ourselves about results. To live in the
full realization of this fact and all that attends it brings peace, a
full, rich, abiding peace,--a peace that makes the present complete,
and that, going on before, brings back the assurance that as our days,
so shall our strength be. The one who is thus centred, even in the
face of all the unrest and the turmoil about us, can realize and say--
* * * *
"I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.
"Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.
* * * *
"The waters know their own, and draw
The brooks that spring in yonder height;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delight
"The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me."