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The line from the familiar hymn "The Son of God goes forth to war" should be thought of in connection with the divine mission that is given to every man. To "overcome the world"1 does not necessitate the surrender of true joy and happiness, of sweetness and light. To overcome the world is to understand the unnatural position of the traditional world order as it relates to man's spiritual identity.
Wheat and tares growing side by side await the harvest sickle. God himself has tarried long and patiently awaited the manifestation of his created beauty, the perfection of the divine image on earth and in the individual lives of all mankind.
In ignorance men despise many things that they do not understand, and the struggle that ensues is not the struggle of the Deity with the individual. It is the struggle of the divine seed implanted within themselves, their own individualized treasure of rightness, which seeks to push its way through the density of the traditional manifestation of the natural life as men have made it on earth.
In the early days of planetary evolution when the former cycles were dominant, the beauty of perfection of the first golden ages was a joy to behold. All of the natural powers of Christ-manifestation, now so sadly lacking among mankind, were in evidence everywhere. Men, women, and children rejoiced together in the sunlight of perfect cosmic harmony. Nature outdid herself to lavish her perfection and beauty upon a joyous people. Communion with the angelic hosts and with the higher presences of life, the representatives of God and the lords of the flame from the very heart of God, was a process as natural as that which occurs today when men and women tune in their television screens and see familiar faces appear.
It is very difficult, of course, for people to understand "how the all-powerful Creator could," as they phrase it, "permit the shadows of the world to obscure the beauty and perfection of the natural order of Godliness that is within every man." This turning upside down of human consciousness, this inversion of immortal principle into a mortal lack of truth and justice is a fog that occurred in the awful majesty of the will. But it was not the will of God that was perverted, but only the will of man.2
Today people boast of their free will. They are proud of the fact that they can reject that which they find objectionable and that they have within their hearts the means (so they think) whereby they can make correct judgments concerning all things. This judgment is often based upon the accepted world order and the inner attunement which mankind have with one another. They do not seem to realize the effects of these mental and emotional ties and their influences upon one another. The almost hypnotic, purposeless flitting about of the people of the world in the vain search of pleasure taxes even the imaginations of their hearts.
I do not as a World Teacher speak on this subject in order to condemn, but that I may bring to those who will read and understand an awareness of the need to peer behind the various religious ideas of mankind and see that the thread of truth which underlies many of them is just that, a thread; for the garment of religion which many men wear is a threadbare cloak that does not cover the nakedness of their soul personalities (instead of being a replica of Joseph's coat of many colors3 representing the many facets of truth in which he achieved mastery and which becomes the seamless robe of the Christ when all initiations have been successfully passed).4
It is in order to teach men how to enter into the first order of things that the Christ, Jesus, and I yearn to flood forth once again the light of truth to the masses of mankind so that they may reestablish their contact with God as it was held and maintained by men who lived in the golden ages. The world system of religious orders cannot survive or be a useful instrument for this purpose in its present form, for much pollution of the pure truth has occurred in doctrine. Such stratification of dogma and intense bigotry exists in the world hierarchy of religious thought that there is no longer peace and safety in drinking at the fountains of orthodoxy.
Now the time has come when the mission of the soul must be understood. In order to bring about this understanding, I would ask you to think upon the early origins of the great spiritual avatars, of how they stood before the shining face of the Eternal One and pleaded for the opportunity to go into the world of form and render there a service in his name.
It may seem to some to be a travesty to think of themselves in the role of the Divine. The natural man has truly become, as the early apostles said, an "enemy of God."5 But this in itself is not natural! It is unfortunate. Consideration by the mind of man in this age must become objective as well as penetrating, expressing a willingness to seek new links of progress whereby a greater understanding of the universe comes to the person of each individual.
We deal with individuals and individuals deal with the universe. But although the vastness of the universe may be almost overwhelming, the realm of the individual is the doorway to the comprehension of it all. For God has placed within the realm of his own Spirit in man the seeds of comprehension. This is the omniscience of God, the all-knowing Christ mind that possesses the infinite capacity to reach out into infinity and draw it down into a sane relationship with the manifestation.
Why do you suppose God created the wonders of expansion and why do you suppose that some men say that he permitted evil to exist? I tell you, precious ones, that evil was never created nor acknowledged by the Deity, nor could it exist in the higher octaves of light, where it would be consumed on the instant.6
It is a fact that the margins of humanity's octaves were once above the level of imperfection. These octaves themselves vibrated in consonance with the harmony of heaven. What has happened is that the sublevels or basements of life are now occupied as the strata within which men think and feel. However, it is true that they do from time to time rise out of those octaves into the Creator's realm, bringing forth thereby great achievements in the fields of art, drama, and music.
Religion, too, is a trial balloon whereby men go up a little way into the beauty of the higher spheres but not far enough nor long enough; for no sooner do they rise high enough to enjoy the beautiful view and enter into that magnificent God-feeling than they begin to hunger for the more familiar octaves of mortal thought and feeling. Thus, pulled quickly down, they once again become a part of the mass miasma.
We are dedicated to teaching men and women how to return safely to the Father's house. As long as they are wedded to dense dogma and to human bigotry, as long as they exhibit hostility toward one another and deem the attitude of those who think not as they do to be an anathema, so long will the world continue to be steeped in its own wars of religious conflict.
The time has come, and it is overripe, when the life mission of men must be understood. They must recognize that one day they, too, asked to go forth into the realm of form in order to overcome that realm with all of its temptations and achieve the higher purpose of bringing God's kingdom into manifestation. Thus, in the hope of being a faithful servant, they looked forward to the day when God could truly say of such a one, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the Lord!"7
In Wisdom's name, I remain a servant of illumination's flame,