Always there are two forces in nature, one which converges and brings to a point, and one which has the opposite action of expansion or dispersion. Studying the activities of the day and night, we discover that in the day nature seeks to conserve the energies of the plants, and at night seeks to draw out from their leaves this vital energy.
In his eagerness and ambition, man has built up a mind body out of all proportion to its original plan and purpose. He has not learned to conserve the power within his mind which will bring about determined action. He goes where his sense takes him, and pours out a constant stream of mental energy. A few things in the newspapers interest him for a short time, but he forgets the things which do not interest him, and when nightfall comes he is usually tired in mind and body.
We must not forget that the mind is the instrument of the body, and the body is the instrument of the mind. Each day man goes through the process of muckraking the debris which his mind cast off the day before. The result is that everything about his mental screen is his own mental offal, the manure and debris of his passions and desires. He finds that he has little control of his mind, and witnesses the recurrence of the thoughts which aroused his former passions and desires.
By what is commonly known as wrong thinking, he slowly builds up an accumulation of thought forms which constantly recur to him and arouse pride, envy, lust, hatred, and malice. These form a screen about him, and, if persisted in, they will shut out the light which formerly illuminated his mind. They make up his self-created universe.
If man will aspire for truth and knowledge, seeking to be kind and benevolent to all beings, he will in time erect a wall about his mental atmosphere which will reflect the things of his higher nature, and allow the light which is within him to shine forth. A certain type of man, carrying with him the debris of unclean thoughts and abnormal desires, is apt to bring long-dormant similar thought forms into the atmosphere of other minds. On the other hand I know a man who can change the whole atmosphere of the room when he enters; the original conversation changes also, and constructive thought is stimulated, causing the mind atmosphere in the room to take on a newer and finer type of expression.
When we seek to remove this foulness of the mind by aspiration and the desire for knowledge we make a discovery. We find that a movement from nature is coming into our atmosphere, and is placing a screen of protection about us which shields us from the atmosphere of an ignorant or diseased mind. We also discover that devotion to God and the desire to know Truth is immediately recognized by the consciousness in nature, and she affords us a wall of protection.
Many city dwellers, ignorant of the reason, often have a strong desire to put their hands and bare feet on Mother Earth. This brings about a change of polarity in our systems, for unknown to us nature gives us of her secret nourishment.
Out from the earth in the beginning came our physical structure, and unconsciously, when we love nature, she restores to our vehicle the energy of which it has been long deficient. This approach to Mother Nature should be practiced in the sunlight before ten o’clock in the morning. It will be found most helpful to neurotic people whose mental screens have been endangered through the filth of desire and the larvae of vice collected by ignorance.
The reader must realize that the second power in this world is money, but the first power is the attainment of wisdom (Truth). The evil man possessed of money is a colossal force, whereas a starving man stealing a loaf of bread has been known to suffer twelve months of hard labor. Few people today can resist the power of money and, in this way, justice is defeated.
The ignorant will always wage war upon those possessing intelligence, for both recognize the “caste mark” of destiny which separates them. Always, when mob ignorance rules, destruction has its harvest. That is why the wise men of this earth live in seclusion, and seek neither wealth nor fame. The Master Jesus left his seclusion to teach the multitude. He had studied and travelled extensively in the East. When Jesus said that John was great in the kingdom of heaven, he had in mind a real place on earth.1 The records of Jesus’ travels and studies still exist in the ancient temples of the East.
Although today we possess certain chapters of the New Testament, the Yogis inform us that there are other chapters in existence, one especially, relating to the physical travels of Jesus. These will be returned to the world when the law of nature calls for their appearance. Spring comes and calls for the budding of the leaves, which autumn returns to the ground. Even so, the teachings of the great avatars are given to humanity. Like another spring, another avatar makes his appearance, and new teachings fitted for the present needs of humanity are given forth.
But the essential truth is always the same. Some accept and some reject the message which the great avatars have given to humanity, but the Truth remains always the same. The great Infinite Reality is very near, yet in order to become at one with its creation and express its truth, we must seek its consciousness.
Truth and Beauty! What wonders these words symbolize to the Yogi as, going inwardly, he stands in the Presence, always seeking at-one-ment with his Creator. Could man but realize how foolish it is to injure anyone, how in so doing, he retards his own progress into the consciousness of Truth and steps down to the level of the beast, he would guard well his words and deeds.
In Africa there is a tribe known as the “Clan of the Lions,” each member of which has killed a lion with a spear, and eaten his heart. They believe that when they have eaten the lion’s heart, they then possess its qualities of strength and courage.
Strong and fearless as the lion is, if we do not interfere with him, he kills only to provide food. Mr. Martin Johnson said that the lion had so many amiable qualities, he had sworn never to shoot another. Mr. Rudolph Steiner told his extremist vegetarian disciples that they would not get to heaven by what they put into their mouths. Yet, what we believe, we become, and an initiated member of the Lion Clan, through his belief, probably acquired somewhat of the courage and power of the king of beasts. Therefore, he who constantly aspires and believes he can attain to the consciousness of the Truth, will attain it sooner or later. When he learns how to knock at the door, it will be opened. This is a law which the seeker must remember. If a man earnestly seeks for light for seven years, and is considered worthy, he will come in contact with a more advanced soul who will give him his first instruction in the process of unlocking the door, for the wise men are conscious of a man’s light and aspiration and will minister to him, for those who have attained to higher realization can bestow it upon the less evolved.
Unlocking the door is a process of bringing to birth a possession within one, by the aid of a teacher; it is a process of introducing a man to himself; a process of teaching him to observe that which he has never before seen in this life; a process of going “within himself” and opening his own gate of knowledge.
