For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall or partition between us (Ephesians 2:14).

This is not only one of the most beautiful texts in the Bible, but one of the most important. Consider what it says. First, that God is our peace; next, that not only are we and God one (all spiritual teachers say that) but that it is He who has made us one. We are one because that is the nature of being since He has made us that way. Then the inspired writer uses a figure of speech. He reminds us that when we lost our sense of unity with God, it is exactly as though a wall was built between God and ourselves. When that happens communication is broken and we are no longer one in consciousness, until, of course, the wall is pulled down.

In any difficulty the one important thing is to have the temporary wall of partition pulled down, and to let God do it—for only He can.

We all know that it is God alone who is our peace—although nearly all of us tend to forget it from time to time. We forget it when we begin to neglect our daily visit with God.

Now, when you think that you are too busy for your daily visit, let me ask you frankly, what wonderful thing are you doing that is more important? There is nothing that you could possibly do with that time that would bring you greater benefit than perfect peace. As a matter of fact, if you have something very important and urgent to do, your visit will make that very important thing go through much more easily and successfully.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace … (Job 22:21).

People are to be judged by their actions. We sometimes hear it said, “His conduct is bad but at heart he means well”; but this is nonsense. In the old-fashioned phrase, “handsome is as handsome does.”

The bad-tempered person cannot possibly have “a heart of gold” as is sometimes charitably said. A bad-tempered person has a mean, selfish heart and should get busy and change it without delay.

One who loves does not seek his own advantage. Love acts the part, and anything else is hypocrisy.

… be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32).

People are very apt to find what they seek. You have noticed that people who go about looking for trouble, practically always find it. The popular proverb, “Listeners seldom hear good of themselves,” is an example. We also know people who love to say that they never have any luck. When things seem to go against them, they exclaim triumphantly, “Wouldn’t you know it?—that is what always happens to me!”

Now, such a mistaken person needs only to alter this habit and he will automatically alter his life. It is often difficult to get such people to make this alteration, but if they do the result is never in doubt. Spiritual law says that it is never too late to mend, and that when we seek God’s help we find it.

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else (Isaiah 45:22).

No matter what problem you may have to face today, there is a solution, because you have nothing to deal with but your own thoughts. As you know, you have the power to select and control your thoughts, difficult though it may be at times to do so. As long as you think that your destiny is in the hands of other people, the situation is hopeless.

Remind yourself constantly that you have nothing to deal with but your own thoughts. Write it down where you will see it often. Have it on your desk. Hang it in your bedroom. Write it in your pocketbook. Write it on your soul. It will transform your life. It will lead you out of the land of Egypt and out of the House of Bondage. It will bring you to God.

I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies (Psalm 119:59).

Read Acts 19:1-41.

This is an extremely colorful and dramatic chapter even for the Bible, which is so full of color and drama. Every problem has a solution. Some problems last a long time, some a short time, but always there is a solution, and always the solution is to turn from the outer to the inner. When you admire some outer, passing thing too much, and thus give power to the manifestation, you are saying, “Great is Diana.” When you fear some outer thing or condition or person, then you are also saying, “Great is Diana.” And when you say, “Great is Diana,” then your troubles really begin.

The First Commandment is, “I am the Lord thy God”—God, spirit, nothing outside. There is not a single mistake that you or I have ever made, there is not a single trouble or heartache that has ever come to us, that has not come directly through saying, “Great is Diana,” and forgetting God.

Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite (Psalm 147:5).

The spiritual forces that created and sustain the whole universe are available to help you at any time—provided you call upon them intelligently. The way to call upon this Power is to become quiet both mentally and physically, and then to call upon it quietly to do what it knows to be necessary. Do not dictate ways and means.

Have you ever seen a huge hoist in action at the docks? You know what happens. The operator would not dream of trying to pull up that load with his muscles. He would damage himself seriously and make no impression on the task in hand. What he does is to gently throw a small switch—and leave it in. Then the electric power raises the load to any height required.

When you work spiritually you are applying Infinite Power to your problem, and there can be but one outcome—victory.

Great in counsel and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men (Jeremiah 32:19).

If you have explored some of the back waters within a few miles of the ocean you will know how much difference tidal water makes. Here you come upon a stagnant pool, partly covered with weeds and slime, an unpleasant place to be near. Not far away is another pool but this is filled with clean, salt-smelling sea water, and the growing things around it are pleasant and wholesome. The difference is that in one case the living ocean water pours in twice a day charged with vitality, and then flows out again carrying away anything stale or lifeless. It is this circulation of life that makes the difference between the two pools.

When the tide is out, we sometimes see a boat stranded, unable to move, but we know that this condition is only temporary because the tide always comes back and refloats the boat. As long as you keep up your daily visit with God, your soul is open to tidal water, and even if you should seemingly be left high and dry for a period, it is only a question of time before the living ocean will float you off once more.

Keep your soul flooded with the tidal water of eternal life and … nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19).

People sometimes say, “I believe firmly in the spiritual teaching, and I have done so for years, but I have never been able to make it work—isn’t that strange?” And sometimes they say this with quite an air of triumph.

Such people remind me of a man who used to boast that he had an ailment that no one could heal. He had successfully defied every school of healing and had emerged triumphantly still in possession of his affliction. As it happens, his wife did heal him later on by prayer alone, but she was a patient and persevering woman. That man’s wife probably points the way to the overcoming of such illogicality. The key to success lies in just the qualities that she obviously had; patience combined with a gentle and unhurried expectation of success.

The patient whom she healed is not a rare specimen, nor is he unknown to any one of us. We are all likely to encounter him under our own hat at any moment!

I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works … (Revelation 2:19).

Volumes have been written on the secret of happiness, but I like the simple old story that has been told so often.

In the old days, there was a king who was so miserable and unhappy that he called together all of his soothsayers, magicians, and other court advisers to find a remedy. They tried all sorts of methods to rouse the king out of his deep despair—but alas, to no avail. Finally, one of them suggested that a search be made for the happiest man in the kingdom, for it was thought that if the king could put on the man’s undershirt, he would become happy too. In due course, the happiest man in the kingdom was found. But, of course, he had never even owned an undershirt. His happiness sprang from within.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

Within you is an inexhaustible source of power, if you can but contact it. That power can heal you, and it can inspire you by telling you what to do and how to do it. It can give you peace of mind, and, above all, it can give you direct knowledge of God. That power is scientific prayer. There is no problem that prayer cannot overcome and no good thing that it cannot bring into your life.

This is the message of the whole Bible. It was summed up by Jesus when he said,

… the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).

This truth was dramatically illustrated by an incident in real life. The body of a tramp, clad in rags, was discovered near a lime kiln where he had evidently crept for warmth. After the autopsy his clothes were torn up to be put into the incinerator, and sewn into the lining of the trousers was a bank note for a large amount. Unquestionably the original owner of the suit had had it sewn in there for safety, and for some unknown reason lost track of it.

Consider the situation! This poor hobo had sat down many a time to lukewarm coffee—and all the time he was sitting on a thousand dollars. People may have plenty of money and yet be hoboes for health or happiness or spiritual experience. Riches do not become wealth until they are realized. Cash your bill at the Bank of Heaven and make it productive.

But my God shall supply all your need … (Philippians 4:19).

Many people say to me, “I want to get on faster. I want more understanding.” And as a rule they go on to ask for a list of books to read or some “advanced course” that they can take.

This attitude is quite mistaken. It implies that spiritual advancement is a question of intellectual activity—of the mere accretion of knowledge. That is true in the study of mathematics, or of physics, or chemistry, but it is not true in metaphysics. Spiritual growth comes from putting into practice the knowledge we already possess. Instead of reading another book, read your favorite book once more and apply it more carefully than ever in your practical life.

Metaphysics, like music, is both a science and an art. In metaphysics it is absolutely true that you learn by doing.

… be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only … (James 1:22).

A good housekeeper sees to it that dust and dirt do not accumulate in nooks and corners and on shelves. Periodically, the house is gone over and given a thorough cleaning. Too often in our spiritual lives, we allow negative things to accumulate in the corners of our minds. We tackle the obvious problems as they come along, but allow the small difficulties to pile up in the corners.

For instance, if we are faced with a problem of health or finance, we get to work on that immediately, but if, on the other hand, someone has injured us, instead of handling the incident spiritually at the time, we tuck it away and perhaps pack in a little resentment along with it. Such problems should be dealt with as they arise. If someone has injured you, forgive him now, and be done with it. Take care of the other difficulties in like manner.

Be a good housekeeper. Clean out every nook and corner—and God will make you worthy of greater accomplishments in the future.

And he said unto him, Well done, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities (Luke 19:17).

When you apply a certain word to God, it must bear the same essential meaning as it does when you apply it to man—otherwise it has no meaning at all. When you say that God is Love or intelligence, or that He is just, these words must mean substantially what they mean when applied to human beings. The love of God must be essentially the same thing that we know as the love of the mother for her children, or the love of the artist for his creation, putified and increased to infinity, of course.

Many people say that God is Love, and at the same time maintain that He visits finite sin with eternal punishment. They claim that God is just, and yet maintain that people living today are suffering disabilities for a sin supposed to have been committed by Adam thousands of years before they were born.

The truth is that God is Love and Intelligence; and that He works with perfect wisdom and perfect justice to all, at all times, in the ordinary and correct meaning of these words.

… God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is Love (1 John 4:8).

Good and upright is the Lord … (Psalm 25:8).

When you give your mental assent to any idea, good or bad, you associate yourself with that idea and you incorporate it into your consciousness—to the extent that you realize it. When you read a passage of Scripture you will, if you assent to it mentally, incorporate it into your life to that extent.

This law, of course, works the other way too. If when you hear or read of some piece of injustice or cruelty, you approve it mentally by thinking that “it serves him right,” you are associating yourself with that deed, and making it a part of your own life, even though you do not speak a word. It is the mental assent that counts.

Give your assent only to Truth.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my numbers, waning against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity. … So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God … (Romans 7:22, 23, 25).

Resignation in defeat is really a sin.

If an old problem continues to stick—pray for inspiration and intelligence. Stop struggling and thank God constantly for setting you free.

If nervous or frightened—throw the responsibility on God, and tell Him that you know you are safe in His hands.

If someone is being troublesome—see only the Presence of God where the troublesome person seems to be.

If you want to make faster progress—claim understanding and affirm that divine Love is working through you.

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you (1 Peter 5:7).

We do not have to create good. We do not have to persuade God to be Love, or Life, or Truth, or Intelligence. We do not have to ask Him to remember us. We could not ask for any good. Fundamentally, evil is a false belief about the power and availability of good.

If we draw down the shades in every room in a house, that house will be in darkness, and is likely to become damp and unhealthy as well, no matter how brightly the sun may be shining outside. Salvation consists in raising these shades and opening the windows—then He does the rest.

… walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8).

When you are praying for your true place, it is well to remember that the full demonstration may not come in one move, but more likely after a series of stages.

Now, if you despise these intermediate steps, and think “this is a little better, but it is not really what I want,” you will keep the demonstration back. Neither should you accept a small improvement as being all that you can hope to get. The scientific attitude is to see the stepping stone as stepping stone; to bless it, and give thanks for it, and to continue praying for the next step.

For precept must be upon precept… line upon line, here a little, and there a little (Isaiah 28:10).

Regeneration means building a new mentality; that is, creating a new soul in place of your present one. It does not mean merely improving your present self—it means producing (through the power of God, of course), a new self.

If you do this, everything else in your life will rapidly change for the better. Other people will become much more friendly to you. Because your soul will be filled with peace, you will radiate peace, and other people will get it intuitively. Everybody likes peace and harmony and they are attracted to any source from which it comes.

Naturally you cannot radiate peace if you do not first possess it within yourself. You cannot radiate anything from the outside. To radiate any quality, that quality must be within yourself.

True peace of mind is the short cut to regeneration. The Master said,

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you (John 14:27).

Into the hand that made the rose, shall I with trembling fall?

— George Meredith

There is absolutely no reason to fear death. The same God is on the other side of the grave as on this side. However, most people do fear death, partly as fear of the unknown, and partly as the result of false teaching. Actually there is no death in the sense of extinction.

To understand death, you have to realize that you really possess not one body but two. You have not only the physical body, but also a second body made of a form of energy too fine to be seen. This etheric body interpenetrates the physical body as air fills a sponge. There are people who can see the etheric body because they have the power of contacting much finer vibrations than can be perceived by the ordinary physical senses.

It is this etheric body that is the repository of all your thoughts and feelings. It is the “psyche” of the psychologist. That is why personality survives death; because it resides in the etheric that passes over intact, and not in the physical that breaks up into decomposition.

During sleep, trance, and under anesthesia, when the etheric may leave the physical body, it remains attached to it by an etheric ligament called in the Bible the Silver Cord. The cord is so elastic that the etheric body can go very long distances and still remain attached to the physical corpus.

Death is the severing of the Silver Cord. When the Silver Cord is severed, an individual falls into a state of unconsciousness that may last for minutes, days, or even weeks. Then he wakens as from sleep, and his new life has begun.

The next world is actually all around us here. The so-called dead are carrying on their lives here where we are now, but in their own world and in their own way. The reason we do not see them around us or collide with them is the same reason that one radio program does not interfere with another—they are on different wavelengths.

… though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me … (Psalm 23).

Perhaps the most startling change that the discarnate has to meet is the fact that thought is the normal means of communication, and therefore there is no deception. You pass for what you are and that is the end of matter.

What is it that determines the kind of place to which you will go after death and the sort of people among whom you will find yourself? You will go to the sort of place and be among the sort of people for whom you have prepared yourself by your habitual thinking and your mode of living while on this earth. Remember that death makes positively no change in you; you are just the same person that you were before it happened. No one “sends” you anywhere. You naturally gravitate to the place where you belong.

You do not “meet God” on the next plane any more than you do on this plane. Of course, He is fully present on the next plane just as He is on this plane; but there as here, He is to be contacted only in one’s own consciousness. Heaven is that perfect state of consciousness in which one is in full realization of the divine Presence. If you can reach to that level of consciousness while still in this world (and a few have succeeded in doing so), you are in heaven now and your awareness of God will be intensified after death.

However, there are some very unpleasant localities in the next world and people whose minds are chiefly given up to hatred, deceit, or sensuality, will find themselves in such places. These are the places referred to as “hell.”

Consider the man or woman who lives wholly for the body and is dominated by it. Physical cravings, being part of the mentality, are, of course, carried over to the next plane, but there there is no physical body through which these appetites may be satisfied, and so the victim is tormented by desire but unable to satisfy it, until, in the course of time, these desires fade out by starvation. This is the natural punishment for allowing the physical body to assume control, and surely it is punishment enough.

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Will you meet your relatives and friends when you go over? Where there is a strong emotional link either of love or hatred there is likely to be a meeting. Where there is a strong link of genuine love there is sure to be a meeting. Where there is no particular feeling between two people there will not be a meeting. There is a real danger that if you allow yourself to indulge in hatred of anyone, you will meet when you have both passed over. To prevent this happening, destroy the link by ceasing to hate.

The so-called dead are very sensitive to our thoughts, and for this reason excessive grief is to be deprecated. It saddens them and prevents their focusing their attention as they should upon the new life that they are starting. Of course, it seems very hard to tell people not to grieve when one whom they have dearly loved passes out of sight, but remember that if there is a link of love you will certainly meet again, and that nothing that is good, or beautiful, or true, can ever be lost.

We can pray for those who have passed on, and indeed it is a sacred duty to do so. The practice was generally discontinued after the Reformation because it had been greatly abused and commercialized, but, nevertheless, it is an excellent practice in itself. Realize peace of mind, freedom, and understanding for them.

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:2).

Some thought should be given to the fate of those who commit suicide. The majority of those who take their own lives are so terrorized at the time that they are not entirely responsible for the act. Such people fare on the other side like anyone else. Conscious and intentional self-destruction is a refusal to meet the problems of life, and obviously it cannot be possible to do that successfully. These persons are apt to find themselves in a confused mental state. Of course, they can be greatly helped by prayer, as can all others. Ultimately they have to face all over again precisely the kind of problem they have run away from.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust (Psalm 103:13-14).

… the goodness of God endureth … (Psalm 51:1).

Is it possible to communicate with those who have passed on into the next world? Extremists on one side say dogmatically that it is absolutely impossible to do so. Enthusiasts on the other side claim that their deceased friends direct their actions. The truth is that communication does take place, but that the wise dead understand the necessity of our exercising our own power of choice and do not intrude. But they do often come to our aid.

If you wish to investigate psychic things, do so thoroughly and scientifically. The chief objection to the running after mediums is that it may become a running away from the responsibilities of this life. Thus seeking mediums becomes what is called in psychology an escape mechanism. Your business is to face up to your problems and to try to solve them.

There is a truly spiritual mode of communication from which nothing but good can come. It is this: Sit down quietly and remind yourself that the one God really is Omnipresent. Then reflect that your real self is in the Presence of God now, and that the real self of your loved one is also in the Presence of God. Do this for a few minutes every day, and sooner or later you will get a sense of communication.

For to this end Christ both died, and rose … that he might be Lord both of the dead and living (Romans 14:9).

Pass a test in Spiritual understanding, and never again throughout eternity will that particular task have to be done. Your attitude should be:

I am going to live forever; in a thousand years from now I shall still be alive and active somewhere; in a hundred thousand years still alive and active somewhere; and so the events of today have only the importance that belongs to today. I greet the unknown with a cheer, and press forward joyously, exulting in the great adventure.

Armed with this philosophy, and really understanding its power, you have nothing to fear in life or death—because God is All, and God is Good.

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus … make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight… (Hebrews 13:20-21).

RESURGAM

There is no death! The stars go down

To rise upon some other shore,

And bright in heaven’s jeweled crown

They shine for evermore.

Time is no death! The dust we tread

Shall change beneath the summer showers

To golden grain, or mellow fruit,

Or rainbow-tinted flowers.

And ever near us, though unseen,

The dear immortal spirits tread;

For all the boundless universe

Is life—there are no dead!

—John Luckey McCreery,

“There Is No Death”

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?… But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57).

What is nature? What we call nature is a small part of God’s universe that we are able to see at the present time, and much of which we see awry. All the wonderful things that are going on in the woods, all the marvelous happenings that take place in the depths of the ocean, the whole sublime story of the heavens, are all parts of God’s self-expression. Above all, our own bodies themselves are part of nature, perhaps the most wonderful part of all; and probably the part about which we ourselves know least.

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind…. With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding (Job 12:7-10, 13).

Have you ever asked yourself why there should be such a difference between one human lot and another? Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be so happy and fortunate in their lives, while others appear to undergo so much undeserved suffering? To the honest and fearless soul, the problem of the inequality of human lives is one that clamors for solution.

Men and women are not born free and equal. They are created free and equal, but they are not born free and equal. They start this life like horses in a handicap race—no two bearing an equal burden. Now, why should this be, if indeed God is Love, and if God is just, and if God is all-powerful?

The answer is that this life that you are living today is not the only life, and that it cannot be understood or judged by itself. You have lived before, in different ages and in different civilizations. Some of those who are at the bottom of the social ladder today have walked the earth as kings, and generals, and high priests; and some who now sit in the seats of the mighty have toiled as peasants, or worn the chains of the slave. And you, yourself, in future ages, will very likely return to this earth planet and live out another life. The conditions under which you start that life will be the outcome of the lives you have already lived; but most particularly will they be the outcome of the life that you are living at the present. What is customarily called a lifetime is really but a comparatively brief day in a long, long life, and the circumstances into which you were born are the natural outcome of the way in which you have lived and comported yourself in your former lives. You are reaping today the results of the seeds that you have sown during these many previous lives.

… He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6).

When you understand that this present life is only one day in your long life, and that at the change called death you simply disappear unto the next plane, to come back again later on—perhaps several hundred years later—then the events of this particular life appear in their true proportion, and then you begin to have dominion. The events of this life will not appear less important because of your new knowledge, but they will no longer intimidate you, because you will know that you can control them. No seeming misfortune will any longer have power to break your heart or weaken your courage. You will understand life as the wondrous opportunity and the glorious gift that it is.

It is true that when you return you will have to meet the same types of problems but the conditions will be utterly different. Also, you will probably meet some of your present associates again, particularly if there is an emotional link either of love or hatred between you. Love will take care of itself; but you must get all hatred out of your heart, if you do not want to renew disagreeable contacts.

A thorough understanding of this doctrine makes us more tolerant. It leads us to do everything we can to make the path of others easier so as to facilitate their personal evolution and that of the race. In our own lives we face up to our difficulties courageously, knowing that to run away is to postpone the day of reckoning.

… all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your work (Revelation 2:23).

Why is reincarnation necessary? Why do we come back for short excursions of perhaps seventy or eighty years instead of, let us say, living one very long lifetime of perhaps a thousand or even several thousand years?

The explanation lies in man’s reluctance to adopt new ideas and adapt himself to changing conditions. In each new experience, however, he wants to do things in new ways; then as the years of his maturity go by, the strong race suggestions all around him gradually get their way. He begins to acquire vested interests (mentally) in the status quo. The only remedy, when crystallization sets in, is to remove him from the earth plane altogether; send him to the etheric planes for rest, reflection, assimilation, and general readjustment; and then bring him back once more as a baby, to experience a new youth and a new period of true spiritual production.

There are other reasons why multiple lives are necessary. You need to develop every side of your character. You need to learn lessons of discipline and self-restraint, and you need to learn to use authority in the right way. You need to learn the lesson of getting on with other people, and you must also learn to be alone. You must learn to bear failure and disappointment with fortitude and you must learn to stand success without allowing your head to be turned. You have to learn both patience and the lesson of enterprise and adventure. Above all, you have to move about in time and space so that you may learn that nothing God made is really foreign or separate—and this could not be done in one lifetime.

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ… (Galatians 3:24).