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As there is darkness in the world, so there is Light. As there is Truth, so there is error. As physical light banishes physical darkness, so spiritual Light banishes the ignorance of spiritual error.
There are many who have said that man was made in the image of God. Let it be known, then, that as man was made in the image of God, so he was also made in the image of creative opportunity - he was given the great opportunity to create himself in the image of God. But it is not enough to be created in the divine image; man must also direct his life patterns toward the outpicturing of that image. To assist him in that goal the Great Mediator, the Living Christ, was given to man as the spiritual Light that would banish darkness and ignorance from his consciousness.1
Now, the Indian Council has asked me to apprise the students that there are upon the planet sons of Belial2 just as there are sons of God. These sons of darkness have reappeared throughout the ages desiring the slaughter of the innocents. In the time of Moses they were there, making it necessary to hide him in the bulrushes; in the time of Christ Jesus they were also there, making it necessary for him to be taken in the arms of his mother across the desert in the flight into Egypt.
Many are these sons of Belial scattered among humanity who would corrupt the perfection of the soul of man, who would obscure the divine image. These are the harbingers of destruction that you read about in your papers. Although their goals have remained the same, their methods of executing them have changed with the times.
One day, by reason of the false patterns they have adopted in their lives, by reason of the darkness they allow to lodge within them, they will be no more. Yet, while the sun shines upon the just and the unjust, they continue their machinations as though there were no standard of decency in the universe. They lament their lot as well as the plight of humanity. Seeking solution in the hand of flesh, they deny the pervading order of Spirit.
Some have not considered the parable of the tares and the wheat in terms of the children of darkness and the children of Light, as Jesus explained it to his disciples privately.3 Some have not even thought upon the problem of embodied evil. It is not our intention that any should become unduly upset upon discovering those evil elements in society which have been present for generations. All should recognize the operation of the law of cycles, the inevitability of the harvest when the tares will be gathered in bundles and burned. At the same time they should be vigilant in defense of the Christ Light, seeking to curb the nefarious influences of the sons of Belial upon their children, upon their governments, and upon the educational systems of the world.
Unfortunately, the sons of perdition do not recognize the law of transference of authority given to the sons and daughters of God as filial dominion. Being of the 'bad seed,' they do not recognize the God-given responsibilities of the Christed offspring to hold dominion over nature. Nor do they see that the beautiful rose appears thorn-crowned, not as a divine act, not even as a manifestation of protection, but as the result of man's wrong thoughts, his sharp feelings, his bitterness and hatred toward his brothers.
Nature is a champion mimic, always desiring to design as man thinks, as man feels. Being a reflection of the world of man, the world of nature is at the present time dangerously divided and unbalanced. Bowed down with the pollutions of mankind's consciousness, elemental life can no longer provide the vehicle for the pristine power of the Comfort Flame as was intended by God.
The feelings of the masses, side by side with reasoning minds, vie for control of men's lives. In most cases, neither the feelings nor the thoughts of men are imbued with perfection; yet it is possible for man to so endow them, if he will. Let men understand that even the emotions in all their turbulence can come under the command of the inner power of the Christ Light, the Light of spiritual dominion.
Peace, be still! The waves of mass emotion, choppy, engulfing and humanly erratic, are quieted by the command of the Christ, becoming thereby a calm reflector of the splendor of the Light. The mind can also be stilled, becoming the bearer of good tidings and holy wisdom as the mind of Christ or of God. Unfortunately, even the justice of human knowledge does not always appear to win in the battle between fact, opinion and feelings; for man is more often moved by his feelings of happiness, fleeting though they be, by his emotions and his opinions of himself or others than he is by logic and fact.
Now, let us call upon the Powers of Light, and let us divest the whole self, as each man is able to surrender, of these undesirable fluctuations that prevent him from realizing God as Spirit, enfolding all and teaching all to mimic the divine plan and to avoid contact with the arm of flesh and those worldly spirits that wraithlike, demonlike, bring man into a sea of emotional turmoil.
The day side of beauty and illumination lives. It is abundance and compassion. The night side wallows in alternating harsh and tender dreams, from time to time crushing the aspiration of the young student. May I then urge all who would run with the strong to make provision for spiritual fortitude in their lives. Do not allow yourselves to be thrust from side to side, and then upwards and downwards, making your experiences to be yourself - or yourself to be your experiences. After all, is not your life of greater value, of a more enduring nature than either your perilous or your ecstatic moments? Is not your life able to become a vehicle of expression of such infinite Love, of such infinite Wisdom, as to be eventually enveloped with the infinite Power you seek?
So many would put on the pole of Power before they are given the gift of Wisdom and the gift of beautiful Love. Yet, spiritual man must be unafraid to burn his own darkness, to burn his bridges behind him, and to continue with the utmost determination on the spiritual path, come any wind of hatred from any source, come any destructive emotion or thought into his mind. His life is an opportunity so vast and so utterly filled with divine compassion that nothing shall choke the tender young seed, although it be surrounded by a sea of monstrous emotion or suppressed by the boulders of intellectual pride.
Let the specters of fear and avarice go back into the dark whence they came! Let these fade as phantoms of the night. But let each dawn bring the angels' songs of forgiveness and love into your heart. For there where God lives, in the garden of inner delight, man can become invulnerable like a diamond or lustrous like a pearl of great price, shining either within the heart of the earth or within the heart of the oyster. His soul consciousness is sometimes uncut or unpolished, but it is ever expanding through those experiences which will one day make possible the tender and skillful art of the Master Jeweler who will cut, refine and polish it even as He is wont to do this hour.
Those who yield their lives to Him, who are content to follow His plan as a magnificent reaching-out of spiritual opportunity, will always receive a just recompense for their efforts and devotion. Naught can stay the onward hand of Life when cosmic progress impels the stream of rippling happiness to cast down every idol in its course, to break down every barrier, to pursue every worthy goal, and to see the hand of God, not as an illusive, vanishing dream, but as an invisible but real guardian of man's life.
Unless spiritual opportunity be recognized, you may find only in part that which you seek. But when the hand of spiritual opportunity is seen behind all events as a conspiracy of Light calculated to adorn the soul with garments of greatness - in order that each man might be clothed upon with the proper spiritual thoughts and feelings - then you shall draw near to your own eternal design, then Christ shall come to live in you. On the other hand, your rejection of your own potential can temporarily destroy your spiritual opportunities for attunement with those great Cosmic Friends of Light who would bring your life into perfect balance.
You are creations of vastness, but unless the cup of your consciousness be rightly enlarged, you remain as unborn sons. When you accept as your very own the authority of the Divine Master of Life, the Eternal Spirit in whose image you were made, then true inner progress can occur; for in His hands are wrought such marvelous wonders as man seldom dreams of in his earthly state. But when he embarks upon the higher goal as the fires of imagination intensify, he sees with holy reason that the real purpose of life is to bring each man through the veil to the place where his spiritual merger makes him the author of his own destiny.
Thus, one by one, do all transcend the dust and day by day rise triumphant into the all-enfolding progress of a higher realm, right while their feet pursue the pilgrim path on Earth below.