Sunday Service Reading #16

From Rays of the One Light
To Each According to His Faith
(to long readings) (link to longest reading)

In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 3, we read:

Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

It is a common experience, shared by most people, that when a person errs he experiences a desire to hide that error from his conscience instead of holding it up for purification. Error clutches its misdeeds to itself, and resists correction, though it is only in the state of purity that we can achieve perfect freedom. It requires an act of will to offer that awareness up to the light, and to hold it there until one's inner darkness is completely dissipated.

For every state of consciousness has its own attractive power. And the more we allow that attraction to act upon us, the more we attract to ourselves the objective circumstances and experiences natural to it. Our faith is the attractive power of our underlying state of consciousness. Goodness attracts goodness; it takes goodness even to see goodness. Evil attracts evil, and it takes evil even to see evil—that is, to take special note of its existence.

Whatever there is in you of darkness or light, offer it up to the heights. In the Supreme Light alone will we find salvation. Accept nothing less in yourself as your lasting reality. As the Bhagavad Gita says, in the twelfth Chapter:

Cling thou to me!
Clasp Me with heart and mind! So shalt thou dwell
Surely with Me on high. But if thy thought
Droops from such height; if thou be'st weak to set
Body and soul upon Me constantly,
Despair not! give Me lower service! seek
To reach Me, worshiping with steadfast will;
And, if thou canst not worship steadfastly,
Work for Me, toil in works pleasing to Me!
For he that laboureth right for love of Me
Shall finally attain! But, if in this
Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!

Thus, through holy Scripture, God has spoken to mankind.

VIDEO of Jyotish and Devi's Service on this Subject from 4-19-09

Sunday Service on 4/19/2009 from Ananda Palo Alto on Vimeo.

MP3 for Download (or online listening) Jyotish and Devi's Service on this Subject from 4-19-09

VIDEO of Dave Warner's Service on this Subject from 4-19-09

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Dave Warner's Service on this Subject from 4-19-09

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Asha's Service on this Subject from 4-22-07

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Pranaba's Service on this Subject from 4-20-08

MP3 for Download (or online listening) of Doctor Peter's Service on this Subject from 4-29-07

Long Readings from the 3 Volume Set:
Rays of the Same Light

#16 What Does It Mean to Believe?
(#15 in the original book)

This passage is from the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 3, Verses 16-21:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

"And this is the condemnation: That light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

Commentary

In earlier readings we explored the meaning of this expression: "the only begotten Son." To repeat briefly what we said: God, who created the universe, known now to consist of hundreds of billions of galaxies, cannot easily be imagined as having begotten, uniquely in all the universe, one single offspring on this tiny planet, our earth.

Spiritual truths are often veiled in symbolism, with the purpose of forcing us to dig beneath their surface in our efforts to understand them. For the sake of our own spiritual growth, we need to reach out and touch them on their own level of reality.

Jesus' divine status as the Son of God is commonly attributed to his miraculous birth. But Jesus himself said, "Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58) Jesus the man was born of Mary. Christ, the infinite consciousness, however, with which Jesus' consciousness was identified, existed already in eternity, eons of time before his human birth; before the birth of Abraham — before the very creation of the galaxies.

The expression, "the only begotten," so Paramhansa Yogananda explained, refers to the universal reflection in creation of God the Father, beyond creation.

This is a profound truth. But should it prove too deep for many seekers, whose present need is to know what step to take next on the spiritual path, the point is not immediately crucial. It is enough for most Christians simply to believe deeply in Jesus. Deep faith in him, as a true incarnation of God, will certainly lead them to progressively deeper insights into the eternal verities.

The essential teaching in these words of Jesus, therefore, concerns belief: "Whosoever believeth in him shall have everlasting life." What, in the sense here intended, does it mean to believe?

Jesus himself said in Matthew 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven."

The students of many a great artist have believed in him implicitly, in his theories, in his methods. This fact alone hasn't necessarily made them good artists. Many art lovers, again, have argued heatedly the merits of one school of art over those of another, without themselves being capable of producing a single worthwhile painting.

The worthy student, whatever his chosen field, labors incessantly, out of the depth of his faith, to attune himself to the realities he is trying to express. The sincere violin student practices again and again until he can place his fingers on the strings in exactly those positions which will produce the right notes. To produce a true tone, as any violinist will confirm, is not easy.

The opera student repeats vocal exercises for years, that he may learn well how to produce his notes with maximum carrying power.

Whatever one's subject, one who really believes in it will never stop short of achieving mastery. Were he to be satisfied with mediocrity, it would indicate some defect in his own belief.

Jesus made it very clear in this passage that what he meant by belief was, as he put it, "doing truth" — that is, living the truth. Next, he said, believing means "coming to the light."

Every action, every thought, every feeling that is not in tune with the light of truth, which is Christ, constitutes an insufficiency of acceptance, of sincere belief. One who accepts sincerely does so in order to become changed, to grow spiritually, and not to parade before the world his outward affiliation with this religion or with that.

God, Jesus said, does not condemn us if we refuse His light. We condemn ourselves, by turning our backs on the light, and by electing instead to live in self-perpetuating darkness.

It is true also that if we reject any divine channel — as the followers of one religion often do the truths expressed in other religions — to that extent we reject also God. In this sense, we condemn ourselves to tunnel vision, which is a relative kind of darkness. God is not pleased by sectarianism. His love is infinite. In sending down to earth a ray of His light, He would have us expand our experience of that light to infinity.

Let us, then, lift up our hearts in gratitude to Him who has sent His one light repeatedly into the world for the salvation of humanity. And let our acceptance of that light be not with our minds only, but with our entire being. Let us love God, as Jesus would have us do, with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Then indeed shall we not perish in ignorance, but have eternal life in God.

Thus, through the Holy Bible, God has spoken to mankind.

Surely with Me on high. But if thy thought

Droops from such height; if thou be'st weak to set

Body and soul upon Me constantly,

Despair not! give Me lower service! seek

To reach Me, worshipping with steadfast will;

And, if thou canst not worship steadfastly,

Work for Me, toil in works pleasing to Me!

For he that laboureth right for love of Me

Shall finally attain! But, if in this

Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!"

Commentary

Paramhansa Yogananda wrote, concerning the modes of liberation here suggested, that they are what make the precepts of the Bhagavad Gita "so sweet, sympathetic, and useful in healing the manifold sicknesses of suffering humanity."

There is no room, indeed, in all God's Truth for judgment. We are His children, students in a School of Life where He has placed us that we might learn.

It takes time to grow in understanding. Not everyone by any means has reached a point in his spiritual evolution where it is possible for him to offer one-pointed devotion and love to God. A St. Francis of Assisi, or a St. Teresa of Avila, is that rarest of flowers among mankind: an almost-perfected being. Most people must struggle with varying degrees of spiritual confusion in themselves: habitual indifference, dullness, negativity, doubt.

How is the average person, enmeshed in a web of restless thoughts and desires, to obey sincerely the commandment of God in the Bhagavad Gita, "Cling thou to Me!"? or that of Jesus in the Bible, to love God with all one's heart, mind, soul, and strength?

Both the Bhagavad Gita and the Holy Bible take into account that there are many grades in this great School of Life. Truth is indeed absolute, but the pathway to it is winding and long. Those who, while climbing the trail to the summit, find themselves as yet far down the mountainside, need something besides absolutes to inspire them. They need teachings that will be relevant to where they presently find themselves on the path.

The soul, in its long labors to achieve divine perfection, needs not only the freedom to advance according to its own natural ability, but also the freedom to make its own mistakes. Without mistakes, indeed, we might never really learn any lesson thoroughly.

No one can understand the evils of drinking so well as one who has himself experienced the suffering that accompanies alcoholism. No one is so dedicated to healing the physical ailments of others as one who, in the past, through abuse of his own body, suffered physical illness himself. And no one feels as much compassion for the insane as one who once knew insanity himself.

Man doesn't need judgment in his efforts to develop spiritually. He needs encouragement. He needs practical guidance. He needs help!

That is why Jesus says in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3: "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." It is why he said also, to the woman taken in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee."

We condemn ourselves, if in our ignorance we turn our backs on the light, and close our eyes. But even this is not so much a condemnation as it is a temporary mistake. No one wants to suffer. Nor, certainly, does God want us to suffer. He has, however, made us in His own image of perfect Joy, and whenever we fail to act in harmony with that image, we inevitably experience pain. Once we realize that the cause of our suffering lies in ourselves, we find ourselves challenged by our own discrimination to begin the slow, often painful labor of correcting that cause, and of returning to the light — to the high place where we belong.

The Bhagavad Gita tells us not to worry unduly over our imperfections, but to do what we can with the positive qualities we have already to hand. God is eternally patient. "Rome," as the saying goes, "wasn't built in a day." And: "A saint," as Yogananda often said, "is a sinner who never gave up!"

Thus, through the Bhagavad Gita, God has spoken to mankind. Back to Top of Page

Longest Reading from the Book
The Promise of Immortality

#16 The Way Beckons

The Gospel of St. John, Chapter 3, states:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. . . .

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

“And this is the condemnation: That light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

“For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved.

“But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

The soul’s ascent can begin only after the discovery that happiness doesn’t really come from things, from circumstances, or from other people. Once we accept this simple fact, and, according to our depth of clarity in the acceptance, cease lamenting that matters ought to be other than they are, we take full responsibility for our own happiness. We determine to work on ourselves, and stop trying to change the world and other people to our own liking.

An attitude of self-reliance is essential for spiritual development. Without inner strength, how can one know God, who is the source of all power in the universe? Self-reliance should, at the same time, be defined as reliance on the true Self (written with a capital “S”)—that is to say, the divine Self behind our own definition of ourselves as this body and personality. The ego, indeed, is no more our true Self than other people are, and can no more give us happiness than they can. The ego, which (as Yogananda defined it) is merely the soul attached to the body, forever cheats us by giving us false expectations. Ego-satisfactions are always vicarious, and can never nourish the soul. To rely on God is to identify ourselves with that part of ourselves which endures forever. To believe in God, who is immanent in creation as the Christ consciousness, is to set foot on the pathway to everlasting life.

People misunderstand the above passage if they take it as encouraging passive dependence on divine grace. Dependence in itself is good, but it must take the form of dynamic self-offering. God is most pleased with courage even in the face of defeat. The true devotee is not one who cries, “Lord, please, I beg You: Please save me!” This is defeatism! A beggarly attitude, which many people consider a mark of humility, attracts only a trickle of divine grace. That is not to say that divine grace is ever withheld, but only that a begging attitude narrows the heart and limits its capacity for receptivity. We should stand lovingly before God, with the confidence a son has in his loving father. For what the Lord has to give us is our birthright in infinite bliss.

The ways of truth are subtle and not easy, at first, to distinguish from some of the false trails of delusion that lead seemingly with promise, but only to vanish in a tangle of undergrowth, or curve back to rejoin the path at some earlier point.

Truth is absolute. In this world, however, all things are relative. Truths, therefore, when applied to human life, cannot but be relative also. They may be more true, or less so, depending on what they are related to. From a high level of insight, a truism may seem utterly fallacious. Nothing, on the other hand, can be absolutely false, if only because even great error is true also, in its own way, if only as a veritable delusion! An evening’s entertainment, highlighted by drunken laughter, may be enjoyable to the participants, but with the morning’s rude awakening and a hangover, or with the awareness that suddenly comes of the hollowness of the evening’s laughter, the relative falseness of the revelry becomes painfully obvious. It is only in God, the Absolute, that truth passes entirely beyond relativity. Meanwhile, what mankind calls true must be understood as a direction, only. It leads out of relative ignorance toward relatively ever-deeper insight and understanding.

Ignorance, too, is a direction, not a static condition. There can be no such thing as absolute ignorance for the simple reason that absolute unconsciousness does not exist. Everything is a manifestation of consciousness.

Laziness, then—a form of spiritual ignorance—darkens the mind and induces ever-decreasing awareness. Human beings can “evolve” downward as well as upward, and can even take on again an animal body. Alas! some actually do so. Indeed, the ego can descend the ladder as far as it chooses, by ever-darker actions and attitudes. One of the ways of doing so is to refuse to act with a creative attitude. Merely to refrain from sinning is not, in itself, virtuous. It may be better to steal than to wait passively for riches to drop into one’s lap—not, of course, that it is good in itself to steal, but at least a thief needs a certain ingenuity to be effective in what he does, whereas indolence only dulls the mind and deprives it increasingly of the ability for self-development.

Jesus, in referring here to the importance of belief, was speaking of belief directed with energy! Belief is not a careful nod of approval, while puffing thoughtfully on a pipe and saying something like, “Hmmm, yes, ye-e-es, that does appear to make sense.” Such expressions of “belief” are typically followed by shrugs, then a comment like, “Let George do it!” Belief, however, as Jesus used the word here, means more than acceptance: It means personal commitment to whatever one accepts.

True belief is a hypothesis, which the scientist tests and either proves or disproves. True faith comes when a hypothesis has been proved valid. The belief needed for such definite results contains sufficient energy to commit theory to the test of experience. Of Thomas Edison it is said that he performed over 43,000 experiments before he found the right filament for the electric light bulb. His associates wanted to quit in discouragement after “only” twenty thousand experiments! Edison alone had the belief and the energy to continue on to success.

It was to belief united with energy that Jesus was referring when he spoke of that belief which leads to “everlasting life.”

This kind of belief is the secret of all spiritual success. Dogmatic belief may parade itself proudly, marching to the rhythm of an accepted pattern of thought, but it is as brittle as a tree limb through which the sap of life no longer flows. When strong winds of a new insight blow, the limb, instead of bending with them, resists rigidly, preferring time-sanctioned pronouncements to the risk involved in any practical test. When it is snapped off, it curses the wind, not itself, and mutters to Change itself, “You’ll go to hell for your disbelief!”

The Bible tells us, “Test the spirits, [to see] whether they are of God.” (I John 4:1) If we would know the truth, we must be willing to submit our most cherished beliefs to the challenge of doubt.

What Jesus offers us in this passage is not only the encouragement to seek everlasting life, but also the courage to test our beliefs and see where they lead. In addition, he gives us a clue as to the outcome of this process. For we are not alone on our voyage of discovery. The basic truths of human nature are as universal as the law of gravity. Belief in Truth and God lifts the mind in aspiration toward enlightenment. Doubt, on the contrary, depresses it, and makes a person fear the divine light. The test is based on the fact that one of these alternatives leads to what everyone really wants in life: perfect love and happiness, whereas the other leads to what nobody really wants, even if, by confused understanding, he feels himself attracted to them: hatred, fear, and unhappiness.

How shall we express belief in Christ? It is not necessary to be a Christian, or even to visualize Jesus as a person. What Jesus referred to here was the infinite Christ consciousness. Thus, anything that uplifts our consciousness toward Christ is, by his meaning, belief.

Interestingly, the process of testing can also be reversed: Instead of waiting to see what will uplift us, or what will cast us down, we can simply concentrate on the flow of energy in our own bodies, and control that flow. For if belief in Christ uplifts our consciousness, and if rejection lowers it, we can uplift or lower our energy and consciousness anyway, by the simple practice of redirecting the flow of our own energy in the spine.

It isn’t always easy to find reinforcement outwardly for our belief in Christ, if we define that belief by such things as holy images. It is easier to practice seeing Christ, or God, everywhere: in the flowers, the meadows, in every kindly act. And it is easiest of all to uplift our consciousness, wherever we may be, by directing our energy to the Christ center between the eyebrows. Churches, temples, and altars of all kinds are limited as to location, but the Christ center is wherever we ourselves are. We can also breathe deeply with the thought of raising our energy in the body: In this case, the lungs act as magnets and draw the energy upward. Indeed, we can concentrate on the flow of energy itself, directing it up through the spine by an act of will. Most of the techniques contained in the yoga science are designed to assist in this process. What is more, by any insightful definition of yoga, Jesus Christ himself was a great yogi.

Seek by various means—by outer reminders, by an inner expansion of awareness and sympathy, and by the conscious direction of your own thoughts and energy—to manifest your belief in Christ. Don’t let your belief be a sort of “New Year’s resolution,” intending more than it ever performs. Climb the mountain of awakening step by step. Every action, every thought, every feeling must be patiently attuned to the Christ within. To see all things not as separate realities in themselves, but as channels for God’s love, is to make oneself a channel also for that love, and thereby to lift oneself into Christ’s love.

It is not God who condemns us if we reject the light. We condemn ourselves by closing our eyes to it, thereby creating our own darkness. Whoever has belief enough to allow himself to be absorbed in that light will never perish, but will have everlasting life. More than anything else, Christ is Divine Love.

The proof of these truths is ever before us. We needn’t wait for all the results to be in, as Edison had to do with his light filament, before we may state firmly, “Yes, now I know that this practice works!” For even our first tests already show us the way. Every time we turn away from the path of love and express hatred toward anyone; every time we criticize others unkindly; every time we desire to revenge ourselves on anyone; and every time we seek personal satisfaction at the expense of others, we reinforce the wall of egoism we’ve built around ourselves. Thus, we imprison ourselves and limit our ability to be happy. This wall of darkness is made of the “bricks” of our own thoughts.

Every time we open up our hearts to others, however, and to God who dwells in their hearts, we shatter a few of those bricks and let in the sunlight of understanding.

Many results are immediate, and give us either instant punishment or instant reward: the subtle punishment of nagging self-doubt and unsettled feelings, perhaps, or the gratifying awareness of increased inner happiness.

The Bhagavad Gita encourages us, whatever our present station on the spiritual path, to grow upward and outward: upward, that is, in rising awareness; and outward in expansive sympathy for all. The Gita also urges us not to be discouraged if we don’t find immediate self-transformation at all levels. A rock is seldom shattered by a single blow. We should proceed steadily, by natural degrees, and always joyfully. We should accept our own nature, for the time being, as it is, but seek to harmonize it ever more perfectly with our higher realities. As Krishna puts it in the twelfth Chapter:

“Cling thou to Me!

Clasp Me with heart and mind! so shalt thou dwell

Surely with Me on high. But if thy thought

Droops from such height; if thou be’st weak to set

Body and soul upon Me constantly,

Despair not! give Me lower service! seek

To reach Me, worshiping with steadfast will;

And, if thou canst not worship steadfastly,

Work for Me, toil in works pleasing to Me!

For he that laboureth right for love of Me

Shall finally attain! But, if in this

Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!”

Paramhansa Yogananda wrote concerning these lines that they are what make the precepts of the Bhagavad Gita “so sweet, sympathetic, and useful in healing the manifold sicknesses of suffering humanity.”

Indeed, in all of God’s Truth there is no room for any kind of negativity, and certainly none for judgment either of others, or of oneself. We are God’s children. He has placed us all together in this School of Life that we might learn—from one another, as well as by our own inner reactions.

It takes time to grow in understanding. Not everyone by any means has reached the point in his spiritual evolution where he can offer his devotion one-pointedly to God. A St. Francis of Assisi or a St. Teresa of Avila is that rarest flower in the garden of earth: an almost-perfected being. Most people are obliged to struggle through varying degrees of spiritual confusion: laziness, indifference, dullness, negativity, doubt. How is the average person, enmeshed as he is in a web of restlessness and desires, to obey the Gita’s commandment, “Cling thou to Me!”? or the Bible’s, to love God with one’s whole heart, mind, soul, and strength?

Both scriptures take into account that there are many grades in the school of life. Truth is absolute, but the pathway to it is winding and long. Those who, on their climb, find they have far yet to go to reach the summit may require something more immediately suited to their needs—a walking stick, perhaps, rather than a mountaineer’s pick. For them, the teachings that are most helpful will relate to their present place on the mountain. The soul must have the freedom to advance according to its present abilities, and also the freedom to make its own mistakes. Without this freedom, it may never learn its lessons thoroughly.

Who can understand the evils of drinking so completely as one who has himself known the suffering and shame that attend alcoholism? No one, again, is so dedicated to healing the body as one who has, in the past, suffered physically. It seems unlikely, too, that compassion for those who are mentally unbalanced manifests so strongly in those who have not, in some previous existence, known some form of insanity themselves. What a person needs in his spiritual growth is not the judgment of others, but their encouragement. What he needs is practical guidance. He needs help!

Jesus, in the third chapter of the Gospel of St. John, said, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” And in the story of the woman who was taken in adultery, he told her, “Neither do I condemn thee.”

It is we who condemn ourselves! For in our error we turn away from the light in apparent fear of God’s judgment, though in fact our fear is of our own conscience! We close our eyes tightly against the “light” of self-recognition, perhaps laughing with abandon in the hope of convincing, not only others, but above all ourselves that we have done well. In fact, our very instinct to laugh indicates the greater wisdom of instinct than of self-justifying logic, for it demonstrates that our true nature never changes. Our true longing is for bliss, even if by our actions we demonstrate that we’ve chosen suffering!

God never wants us, His children, to suffer. He has created us in His own bliss-image. When we fail to act in harmony with that image, we inevitably experience pain. It is only when we realize that the cause of all our suffering lies within ourselves, not in the world around us, that we feel the challenge to begin the task—arduous at first, then, as Paramhansa Yogananda put it, “effortlessly liberating”—of correcting the true cause of our pain and returning to the light, where our souls belong.

The Bhagavad Gita tells us not to be unduly upset over our imperfections, but to do what we can, with whatever good qualities we have to hand already, to climb toward God. He is eternally patient. “Rome,” as the old saying goes, “was not built in a day.” Especially helpful in the present context is a favorite saying of Paramhansa Yogananda’s: “A saint is a sinner who never gave up.”

Don’t identify yourself with your mistakes. Above all, never tell yourself, “I live in darkness, therefore I am dark!” If your present nature impels you to reject the light, try this little experiment:

Turn bravely towards it, mentally, and gaze into it steadfastly. Having gazed a while, turn away again. By light we mean also joy, love, and understanding. As you turn away from that light, feel that you are spurning no mere dangling light bulb, but a state of consciousness. Compare now, as honestly as you can, the feeling you had when you turned in either direction.

For example, if you are tempted to explode with anger over someone else’s behavior, then, instead of suppressing that “explosion,” try deliberately to change its nature. If your urge is toward violence, direct your anger toward some constructive act; don’t injure that person. Chop wood, knead bread (afterward you may want to throw it away, and not bake and eat it!), sing—anything, rather than reinforce your negativity by affirming it by outward action. Best of all, if you can manage it: Relax your heart’s feelings, then expand them to include that other person’s needs and realities. Expand your sympathy, until you find you can forgive and bless him mentally. Then reflect: Which of the two feelings has given you greater satisfaction: explosive anger, or calm forgiveness?

In explosion of any kind there is always a release of tension, which may in itself prove temporarily satisfying. Explosions, however, can cause suffering not only to others, but to oneself. They can also, however, be constructive—for example, they can build roads for carrying people quickly to their destinations. An explosion of energy for positive purposes bestows more than passing relief: It brings an expansive sense of inner power and spiritual joy.

Again—and do this especially when a measure of personal sacrifice is required: Share something of yours with someone else: money, perhaps, or an opportunity you’ve been coveting personally. Don’t make a sacrifice greater than your own emotional readiness for it. Be realistic as to your actual, as opposed to your idealized, nature. You will soon find that with heartfelt generosity comes a deeper sense of fulfillment than you’ve ever known when you thought only of your own fulfillment!

When your feelings are deeply hurt by someone you love, ask yourself, “Will I gain anything by allowing myself to suffer twice? It’s true that I’ve been hurt, but this hurt will only deepen if I allow myself to become bitter. Let me meet unkindness, instead, with love, even if for no other reason than this: that I am happier, when I love!”

No one can really hate the light, though he may temporarily identify himself with darkness and error: with anger, pride, and selfishness; or with hatred, and think of himself as angry and bitter by nature. The “theme song” of some people might be, virtually, “I love myself just the way I am!” Were their song instead, “I love my true Self, which is who I really am!” it would be a truth. What most people feel, however, is attachment to the way they presently define themselves: to contractive consciousness and sense-slavery. Even their suffering must, in their eyes, be an acceptable price for their sense-enjoyments.

How absurd! How could anyone possibly prefer bitter poison to delicious, wholesome food? No one could prefer suffering to joy. Who, indeed, would rather be mean-spirited than generous, once he’d experienced the difference between the two?

We live in an age of scientific experiment. So why not conduct these simple experiments on yourself?

Evil, as Jesus tells us in the above passage, hates the light. Yet no one can be evil forever. Everyone feels in his heart that he is a child of the light, not of darkness. Everyone believes himself intrinsically good, not evil. Were any person’s nature dark to its core, he would rejoice wholeheartedly in his separation from light. Instead, there is no rejoicing. Darkness brings him suffering, which he is unable to banish by loud laughter flung riotously to the skies, or by the wheezing chuckles of unholy glee. There is no real happiness in error: There is only the pain of exile from that true state in which all of us belong. Our “condemnation” is not eternal, though it may seem so during times of suffering.

It is not possible to reach a mountaintop by a single leap. It must be attained step by step. Accept that, though there is satisfaction for the climber in every step upward, the journey to the peak will take time. It will be helpful, on the other hand, to take stock of your feelings every now and then. Are your spirits growing a little lighter? freer? happier? As your sense of inner fulfillment increases, your pace will quicken, until you find yourself fairly rushing toward the goal! At the top of the mountain you’ll find a (literally!) breath-taking view spread out in all directions: range after range of shining peaks and slopes covered with fields that are colorful with wildflowers of joy.

At last you’ll know that everything God ever wanted from you was the sweetness of your love. His own love has always been yours. What He wants, however, for your own true fulfillment, is your love. Everything you’ve ever sought was but a suggestion from your imagination, a hint of your soul’s craving. God, forever, has been your sole reality.

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