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To Those Who Would Attend the Universities of the Spirit:
The thought of possibility and of expansion should be guarded by the heart and mind of man. Those who have a tendency to accept negative concepts about themselves or their future do again and again produce negative fruit on their Tree of Life, but the mind that has gleaned wisdom and the mind that will accept it will see the need to call forth from the very presence of life the God-given gift of its own reality.
The reality of unlimited possibility affords the individual a sense of hope, and a sense of hope eliminates the need to do battle right while it affirms the need for the acceptance of a responsibility that is born of faith in the ultimate destiny of the individual. Whereas karma is the law of the circle returning to each one exactly what he sends out, the control of karma is best established by an awareness of the best possibilities available in a given set of circumstances. Hence, the right kind of spiritual education is an essential and determinant factor in the forward movement of man's unfolding destiny.
In bygone years the word claptrap was applied to questionable and spurious teachings, and even today there is a trend toward lightly dismissing the unacclaimed sources of the best truths. In these days of travail when the darkness of educated ignorance covers the world, it is easy for men to look with a faith, which is actually misplaced, to the old established orders whose only proof of integrity is often in their longevity.
We admit that some of the old orders have preserved the truth inviolate through the ages, and a few have even added to the truth those progressive revelations of the Divine which have been vouchsafed by heaven. But we must not neglect to point out that in this age many of the leaders of the world's humanitarian and religious institutions have lost the first love of their founders. They have been turned away into the delusions of the world which are both anti-Christ and anti-God, hence anti-purpose and anti-spiritual in their evolved concepts. An evolutionary method that confines itself solely to the needs of social progress and that gauges its worth according to the tenure of mortals seldom contributes to the progressive reality of infinite man.
Darkness cannot produce light, neither can light produce darkness; for the nature of the one is the vibrant vitality of life, and the nature of the other is the somber shadow of nihilism. Rejoice, then, for your salvation is at hand! And it lies at the point where the educated consciousness contacts the mind of God. But an education that is derived solely from Matter or the changing principles of man's understanding of Matter can never hold an enduring promise before the gaze. Nor can such an education elevate the consciousness.
We who are steadfast and unwavering in our search for eternal truth welcome you to examine the source of your knowledge and of your beliefs with a view to determining what is real and what is not within the storehouse of your consciousness. For only by so doing will you be able to recognize the reality that we shall unfold before the gaze of the Self.
Those inner experiences that are the by-products of the soul's contact with universal truth will still the inharmonious voices of the madness of the world and reveal the peace that can be obtained from communion with the divine intention. Some do not understand that it is never enough for the Divine to intend, to will, or to plan. Man must align himself with the divine intention through the consent of the will and the implementation of that will by action.
If Cain had perceived the tenderness of the relationship between Abel and God, he could have established the same relationship between himself and his God, the deed of murder would not have been done, and his sense of the reality of God would have been exalted as was Abel's. This experience in human consciousness was an opportunity to exalt a sense of equality among brethren in the sight of God. But, as is often the case, the one to whom the opportunity was given chose to base his actions on a false sense of inferiority.1
"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown"2 is a scriptural admonishment which reveals the sovereign need of the individual to guard his light against those forces and principalities of darkness which would despoil the nature of his being. This they do by making him jealous of others and by causing him to seethe with resentment and thus become a victim of his own self-inflicted wounds.
The key to the divine domain lies in the Self. It does not lie in the self of others but in one's own Self. Each emotional skirmish where the personality, in a warped sense of inferiority, lashes out at another part of life produces a karmic reaction which further delays the individual's progress in reality.
Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."3 No man, through a mere repetition of the divine letter, can inherit life or master it. Life is mastered through the Spirit of Truth which was implanted within man from the very beginning. His turning from the reality of the Self, his turning from the divine image to passionate involvement in the sense of struggle is behind every untutored act.
True education is the education of the Spirit, for it is through the Spirit of God that the consciousness learns to govern itself by universal principle, by love, wisdom, and power in perfect balance. Understanding the need to contribute to the Universal Triad, each monadic expression must daily strive to understand the totality of being and his relationship to the whole as well as to the parts. When this is accomplished, the drawing rights of the individual upon the Universal become a matter of record and of merit. Just as soon as the student realizes his place in the cosmic scheme, the golden rule becomes practical to his consciousness and he sees the futility of not being informed and controlled by reason and justice.
Quite naturally, malevolent forces have sought to involve the consciousness of man in such intricacies of thought and feeling as to hide the simplicity of reality and universal justice from his gaze. Thus in an unjust and an unreal world, Justice seems proverbially blind but in reality she is not. It is not God who must be corrected, but man who must be corrected by God. For we deal with the universal principle of the creative flame, the twin electromagnetic pulsation that draws into manifestation the designs of the mind of God in man.
The social diseases of the times show forth - and clearly at that - to all who would pause to consider the need for a purification of art forms. It is easy to see why art, music, sculpture, the theater, and even language itself have been tampered with in this age; for they are the lever by which the consciousness of the youth and of the entire race can be and have been warped. In reality, these are the instruments which God has designed to communicate to man the spirit of his wisdom. They are the media which are intended to convey to the spiritual senses of man, even to the unawakened consciousness the eternal verities of the mind of God. No wonder the counterfeiters of reality are busy twenty-four hours a day weaving a spell of nihilism into the fabric of culture!4
We commend men to the simple joys of God realization, not only through worship but also through application to the soundness of the laws of God which possess the power to educate the heart. One who possesses an educated heart will recognize that he must first assess his potential based upon his present record, then he must take stock of his imagination (his ability to image forth reality)5 as that imagination under the direction of God and the laws of justice conceives in faith of a realistic goal that may justly be accomplished within one's lifespan.
Men should not ignore the laws governing the accumulation of wisdom. Those who with motive pure drink of the fount of knowledge, even in so-called old age will draw through the process of solar magnetism and hold within the orbit of the personal self a treasure of spiritual knowledge which they may use in the near or distant future.
Life is continual, and there is magic in believing and in hoping for a better tomorrow. But that magic must not be dissipated into channels of doubt and fear. It must not be allowed to dissolve in a gaze at yesteryear and its attendant failures. The being and consciousness of man must expand its own faith in universal purpose and draw upon a firsthand knowledge of the divine schemes rather than upon human ones.
Many forms of self-expression must be altered to conform to the divine ideal. Man must not only be willing to foster the divine intent, but he must also be able to foster it. The heart that applies itself to the Creator's purposes is the joyous heart that overcomes the world through the consciousness of the Christ. Neither the momentums of self or of others ought to be used as excuses for one's failures or as weights upon the soul. The soul must be free to drink of the fount of truth and to realize that behind the appearance world lies an infinite world of masterful causes, a treasure-house of the Divine Mind.
Let the self lay claim to these gifts and graces that the self may muster the will, the wisdom, and the strength of love to overcome through light.
To the many valedictorians in our class I say, Victory!