(ipatneU Hniaetaitg Slibrarg 
 
 St^aca, S^eni Qorh 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 HENRY W. SAGE 
 
 IS9I 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BR 125 .S75 
 
 3 1924 029 238 800 
 
 olin 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029238800 
 
SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
SPIKITUAL 
 EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
 1918 
 
COPTEIGHT, 1918 
 
 By DODD, mead AND COMPANY, Inc. 
 
 VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY 
 BINaHAMTON AND NEW YORK 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I The Refining 1 
 
 II He Made Darkness His Hiding Place 4 
 
 III Heaven Is Harmony 7 
 
 IV Building 12 
 
 V The Coming Race 16 
 
 VI Hail, Mabt 22 
 
 VII The Cleansed Temple 26 
 
 VIII Ring in the New 30 
 
 IX "Be Te Doers oi" the Word and not 
 
 Hearers Only " 33 
 
 X The Evolving Consciousness ... 40 
 
 XI The Eternal Foundation 44 
 
 XII The Soul's Wabfabe 47 
 
 XIII Intuition 52 
 
 XIV Not By Might — By My Spirit ... 58 
 
 XV Vision — Victory 62 
 
 XVI That I May Attain 67 
 
 XVII The Dabkness that Precedes the 
 
 Dawn 71 
 
 XVIII Dying to Live 76 
 
 XIX The Wings op the Soul 79 
 
 XX In the Real World 83 
 
 XXI India 86 
 
CHAPTER 
 
 XXII 
 XXIII 
 XXIV 
 
 XXV 
 
 XXVI 
 
 XXVII 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 XXIX 
 
 XXX 
 
 XXXI 
 
 XXXII 
 
 xxxin 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 XXXV 
 XXXVI 
 
 XXXVII 
 XXXVIII 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Joy and Satisfaction ^9 
 
 The Powee op Hope 93 
 
 Faith and Its Relation to Thought . 98 
 Faith and Its Relation to Thought 
 
 (continued) 103 
 
 The Nations Shall Walk in the Light 
 
 op It 108 
 
 The Soul's Freedom 113 
 
 "And I Will Dwell in the Midst of 
 
 Them for Ever " 117 
 
 " In Heavenly Love Abiding "... 121 
 
 Bearing Much Fruit 127 
 
 Death — The Great Illusion . . • 130 
 " They that Go Down to the Sea in 
 
 Ships . . . These See the Works of 
 
 THE Lord " . . 135 
 
 "And Nations Shall Comb to Thy 
 
 Light" 139 
 
 "He Filleth All Things with His 
 Wisdom" 144 
 
 The Thought Within the Thought . 149 
 "The Son of Man Must Suffer Many 
 
 Things" 154 
 
 " There are Celestial Bodies Also " . 159 
 " They Shall. Go No More Out " . 164 
 
INTEODUCTION 
 
 OUE last message to earth has reached 
 many, and is bringing forth fruit in the 
 hearts and lives of those to whom it was 
 sent. 
 
 This little book is for the present day and 
 hour. It will be best understood by those who 
 have read the previous messages, for it speaks to 
 all who are seeking the good of humanity. Al- 
 though simple in language, it contains far-reach- 
 ing truths, as most will perceive. The truths of 
 life can be perceived everywhere by the spiritu- 
 ally minded, but it is more than knowledge of 
 life, or even of God, that is required of you ; it is 
 rather that God may give expression to these 
 truths through human channels, that You may 
 show forth His glory, that Your life may be as 
 light in darkness. To enter the kingdom within 
 you, requires the heart and mind of the child. 
 
 The Cosmos is full of order and intelligence in 
 vii 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 spite of seeming discord. There is not a spax- 
 row, not the tiniest atom of life, outside a divine 
 and beneficent law, which is in its highest essence 
 Love. Consequently your place, your work, your 
 very being are of the utmost importance to life. 
 Even your thought makes a difference to future 
 worlds. The value of a soul is supreme. 
 
 To the great Master, Jesus, the truth of Being 
 was not a complex science, it was a simple and 
 beautiful realization of love and order. His 
 great work was to reveal the Father; this is the 
 whole meaning of His life. I and the Father are 
 One, He said. In sending these messages we are 
 not in any sense your teachers, we are only re- 
 minding you of what you have known throughout 
 the ages; we are revealing you to your inmost 
 Self. God has placed man so high, that he is the 
 channel along which the unmanifest becomes 
 manifest, the Absolute reveals spiritual, creative 
 substance. By apprehending the innermost of 
 yourself, you attain to Christhood, and so per- 
 ceive in Jesus the great Ideal for the human race. 
 The witness of the Spirit within yourself is all- 
 sufficient and not dependent on book or teacher; 
 
INTEODUOTION ix 
 
 nevertheless it includes all inspiration, revela- 
 tion and teaching. 
 
 At this stage of the evolution of the race, we 
 have one urgent message. Get back to the begin- 
 ning — God — and so begin this fresh cycle with 
 the accumulated experiences of the last; striking 
 fresh roots, however, and going deeper into the 
 essence of things. So will you evolve a fuller 
 and a richer life, the Absolute and Eternal. 
 Thus in all your coming experiences you will re- 
 veal to the world the power and might of cre- 
 ative energy on the spiritual plane. You will 
 also reveal the Love which attains its complete- 
 ness only when the whole universe breathes forth 
 the Life which is Love. 
 
SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 OHAPTEE I 
 
 THE REFINING 
 
 But all through life I see a cross 
 Where Sons of God yield up their breath ; 
 There is no gain except by loss ; 
 There is no life except by death. 
 
 Olrig Grange 
 
 YOUR plane is undergoing great purifica- 
 tion. Never in the world's history has 
 there been so much self-sacrifice or action, 
 the outcome of such high motives. We are not 
 now considering the causes of the present crisis. 
 We know that you are being set free, that the old 
 limitations have passed away for ever. There 
 has been a great manifestation of selfless love 
 which has made all things possible for you in the 
 days to come. Some of the finest and purest 
 have left your plane to work with us here for 
 your uplifting and purification. You will feel 
 
 the might of the invisible all about you; out of 
 
 1 
 
2 SPIRITUAL EECONSTEUCTION 
 
 darkness light will break forth. You are on the 
 threshold of fresh revelations; before you are 
 vast tracts of consciousness to be explored. A 
 way has been made for you by the rich offering 
 of life, by the love which gives up all in order to 
 give itself. By these things you are enriched, 
 your very suffering will enable you to enter into 
 joy and freedom. Your loved ones are safe and 
 very near to you in these days. There is no such 
 thing as death, for God is your life. There is no 
 place where GoD is not. The veil between us is 
 thinner than it ever was; we can reach you as 
 never before. Mighty hosts from our side have 
 been with your men on the fields of battle. Old 
 leaders have returned with clarified vision and 
 purified motives. Many times they have changed 
 the whole issue of events for you. They know 
 that the defeat of your enemies will work for the 
 ultimate good of the German peoples. Only for 
 the good of all will you be allowed to win. God 
 is on the field of battle and the loving ministra- 
 tions of heavenly Helpers are with the wounded 
 and passing souls. They press me now to tell 
 you that all is well. Have courage. We can and 
 
THE EEFINING 3 
 
 do help you; consequently, refrain from mourn- 
 ing. 
 
 You are in God and God is in you. " Whither 
 shall I go from Thy presence? If I ascend into 
 heaven Thou art there. If I make my bed in 
 hell, behold Thou art there. If I take the wings 
 of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts 
 of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me and 
 Thy right hand shall hold me." Deep within 
 yourself is that eternal unchanging Spirit which 
 is indestructible and pure. Seek above all else 
 to know more of this deep hidden Centre within. 
 By knowledge of this Pure Self, you will discover 
 your true relationship with all life, and realize in 
 very truth that you all may be made perfect. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HE MADE DARKNESS HIS HIDING PLACE 
 
 And that cloud Itself, which now before thee 
 
 Lies dark in view, 
 Shall with beams of light from the inner glory 
 
 Be stricken through. 
 
 WMttier 
 
 DO not be afraid of the disintegrating 
 period — it is necessary at the end of an 
 old outworn civilization. Out of the 
 ruins, new life will arise. This means prepara- 
 tion for a great forward move in your evolution. 
 Out of the present conflict will issue great good. 
 Right conditions must be made for the new race 
 which has so long been evolving out of the old. 
 You know and feel that the old is passing; that 
 a fresh manifestation of life and light is at hand. 
 The present crisis is wholly beneficial. The 
 eternal changeless life cannot be touched; it is 
 the truth behind all the illusion of the sense 
 plane. 
 
 4 
 
DARKNESS HIS HIDING PLACE 5 
 
 The spirit is speaking, giving fresh impetus 
 to life, breathing out the breath of God by which 
 men live. The day of which the poets sing is 
 dawning. Unto you, my friends, do I speak. 
 The spirit shall illumine all your ways. Love 
 and joy shall be awakened in your heart, and 
 shown in your words and in your intercourse 
 with one another. You will manifest something 
 of that warmth and deep joy in your own hearts. 
 You will become so animated, so ravished and 
 transported with this inner spiritual Love, that, 
 without knowing it, you will yourselves be torch 
 bearers wherever you go. Walk not after the 
 flesh but after the Spirit in every thought and act 
 of Life. Gradually there will come to you other 
 and clearer points of view, a new world will be 
 unfolded along with the power to discern true 
 values, thus affording new insight into much that 
 has bewildered you. 
 
 There is always another and a deeper meaning 
 in all that takes place on the plane of the senses. 
 Your power of vision will become greater ; it will 
 also be permanent and abiding. Your potential- 
 ities are tremendous. By obedience to the die- 
 
6 SPIEITUAL EECONSTEUCTION 
 
 tates of the Spirit you will learn that you possess 
 the swift comprehension of all thought waves, 
 that the all-seeing eye looks through your eyes, 
 and that for beneficent ends you may co-operate 
 with God's will on behalf of others. The true 
 purpose of your life is to create from the spiritual 
 plane, to manifest the things of the Spirit, to 
 bring substance and order on to the sense plane. 
 Unveil your soul that it may help you to attain 
 these ends. You are going to help in this great 
 struggle against stagnation and inertia, to ac- 
 quire creative faculties from the centre of Life. 
 I summon you to do the work you came to do, to 
 let everything go that hinders you in this quest. 
 Be your highest self. When all seems dark, re- 
 member the Light shineth perpetually. The 
 cloud only veils the God-head. Moses, who was 
 a great initiate, learned that as he drew near to 
 the thick darkness, he entered the very presence 
 of God. Something of this will be revealed to 
 you as you read and as you think of your troubled 
 earth. A great hope will spring up in proportion 
 as the reason and meaning of this cloud becomes 
 apparent to you. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HEAVEN IS HARMONY 
 
 By one pervading spirit 
 
 Of tones and numbers all things are controlled 
 
 As sages taught, where faith was found to merit 
 
 Initiation in that mystery old. 
 
 The heavens, whose aspect makes our minds as stiU 
 
 As they themselves appear to be, 
 
 Innumerable voices fill 
 
 With everlasting harmony. 
 
 Wordsworth 
 
 SINCE thought was previous to manifesta- 
 tion, you must get back to thought for 
 fresh manifestation. In the sphere of 
 thought and feeling you touch holy and sacred 
 springs. Though having no words, you learn of 
 the true spiritual emotion which precedes the 
 manifestation of the soul's intuitions. The 
 highest joy of the soul is to express the spiritual 
 idea. Before the birth of worlds at the creation, 
 the first movement was emotion. True emotion 
 is a transcendent quality and dominates life. 
 Before a man's thought is formulated — if it be 
 
 7 
 
8 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 creative — he becomes filled with profound emo- 
 tion. There is in the soul a stirring too deep 
 for words. You may experience this when listen- 
 ing to a symphony of Beethoven or of any real 
 musician. For the time you are under a higher 
 control. You have come into conscious touch 
 with the transcendent. In reality you have felt 
 the divine harmony and the true emotion which 
 precedes creation is yours ; you know then that all 
 things are possible to you. 
 
 Out of this harmony of soul and spirit, joy is 
 bom. We are made for joy and joy is at the 
 heart of life ; we are always seeking it. It is the 
 fountain from the Godhead ever flowing rich and 
 free. When you attain to ecstasy you know this. 
 Though you may have had but a gleam, you are 
 aware that it is indestructible and eternal. 
 Music will often lay bare this inner realm because 
 it moves the soul and brings it into touch with 
 the highest vibrations. The worlds were created 
 out of perfect harmony, and when we live har- 
 moniously we catch the eternal rhythm. It is no 
 mere figure of speech to speak of " the music of 
 the spheres," for the whole heavens are filled 
 
HEAVEN IS HAEMONY 9 
 
 with melody at the creation of the worlds. True 
 musicians have heard, have felt, have tried to ex- 
 press something of this ; consequently their music 
 stirs the memory in the soul which knows the 
 truth of being expressed in the following words : 
 " I was set up from everlasting when there were 
 no depths, I was daily His delight, rejoicing al- 
 ways before Him." 
 
 Joy precedes all birth. You have your own 
 note in these eternal harmonies, and this your 
 soul knows well. 
 
 We come to help you to recognize within your- 
 self and to reproduce the power to glorify God 
 and enjoy Him for ever, so that you may sing the 
 song He has put in your mouth. When a deep 
 emotion floods the soul, music fills the mind; 
 hence you get love songs, slogans, chants and 
 songs of nature. Vibrations born of racial emo- 
 tions are full of the soul's consciousness and sup- 
 ply us with the key to the thought and feeling of 
 the nations. Music at all times, more than all 
 else, interprets the soul's deepest feelings. In 
 this we find a meaning for yourselves. The time 
 has come for the birth of a new consciousness of 
 
10 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 God. If each individual soul rings true now, tlie 
 world soul will be moved. 
 
 Look towards the dawn with hearts full of faith 
 and hope. The real war is within. Peace is not 
 inertia. Lift up your striving on to a higher 
 plane. There is a reason for the fighting instinct, 
 a deep divine reason, which, being but faintly un- 
 derstood, is now leading to destruction on the 
 material plane. Reconstruction through obedi- 
 ence to spiritual laws, building on the one true 
 foundation; establish the Kingdom of Christ. 
 In some measure it has already begun. I ex- 
 plained in my last book the relation between 
 sound, form and colour. It is true that every 
 spoken word leaves its record in the ether. 
 
 When you produce a note, there appears a 
 form, surrounded and inter-penetrated by colour. 
 Here is a clue to life movements, creative forces. 
 At Thy Word, the worlds were created. Christ 
 is God's Word for our earth, and Christ in You 
 is the eternal hope of glory. The soul that is 
 stirred by transcendent emotion is in the creative 
 sphere. It is for you to bring into form your 
 thought, clothed with living light and colour, to 
 
HEAVEN IS HARMONY 11 
 
 establish the consciousness which is to be. By 
 using these laws and becoming co-workers with 
 God, you will make for that harmony which is 
 Heaven's law. 
 
CHAPTEE IV 
 
 BUILDING 
 
 Ever the " ROCK of AGES " melts 
 
 Into the mineral air, 
 To be the quarry whence to build 
 
 Thought and its mansions fair. 
 
 Emerson 
 
 THEEE are plenty of workers for all the 
 outside machinery of life; fresh organ- 
 izations, new co-operative systems and 
 unity of leaders in Church and State. Now is 
 the moment for reconstruction. Women will be 
 organizers in all the departments to which they 
 have essentially belonged. 
 
 The framework of life is in preparation. It 
 would all, however, be useless propaganda and 
 every scheme would fail but for the hidden work 
 of the Spirit. The first steps must be taken 
 within. There are many of you ready now to de- 
 vote some part of each day to aiding us in the 
 creation of a new consciousness. Begin with 
 strong faith to proclaim a Universal Brother- 
 
 12 
 
BUILDING 13 
 
 hood; you have thought about it more or less, 
 now we ask you to be definite, and to enter that 
 creative sphere in meditation, making manifest 
 the Word which is Love. For the creation of 
 this new consciousness we need men and women 
 free from desire, possessed of pure bodies. There 
 are many such and you will be helped by our co- 
 operation. 
 
 Let us join hands and flood these organizations 
 with spiritual life and power. You will see re- 
 sults that will surpass your expectations, since 
 the right time for this great work has come. The 
 peoples of Eussia have awakened, they will teach 
 you many things and you may look to them for a 
 leader in the near future. They have put away 
 drink ; did they but know it, by this action they 
 have prepared a way for the coming race and 
 brought victory nearer by vast strides. In ac- 
 cordance with the pure desire of Nature, the 
 spiritual forces were allowed freedom of action. 
 This will remove the veils from men's souls and 
 many will have the open vision. Help all you can 
 by love and faith to show forth the true desire of 
 all nations, the inner Christ, 
 
14 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 Women have a great work before them, a work 
 they alone can do and which is typified by the 
 women who ministered at the Cross. Through 
 the love nature will flow the ennobling desire for 
 a pure race, the birthright of the coming children 
 from the higher realms. It is for good women to 
 help their sisters who are in ignorance of all that 
 wifehood and motherhood means, so that they 
 may learn the truths of Life and Being. 
 
 There is every reason to expect rapid develop- 
 ments. Russia has progressed more during the 
 past three years than during the thirty previous 
 years. Never has there been a time in the history 
 of your earth when so much spiritual force was at 
 work. This great upheaval has not been brought 
 about without a purpose. The worst thing that 
 can happen to a nation or a people is a condition 
 of inertia — of materialism. 
 
 There will be great earth movements later and 
 the continent will change shape — floods and 
 earthquakes, storm and wind, fulfllling His word. 
 Be not troubled when ye see these things. They 
 are the days of the coming of the Son of Man, the 
 new manifestation of God, the establishment of 
 
BUILDING 15 
 
 the new Kingdom. There will be fewer islands 
 and easier means of reaching other peoples. Al- 
 ready Heligoland is disappearing. The air will 
 be the medium of vast enterprise : beautiful scen- 
 ery will be within reach of all. The making of 
 the Panama Canal is a beginning of the breaking 
 up of old conditions. The Channel Tunnel is 
 completed on the higher mental plane; manifes- 
 tation will follow. An earthquake in France will 
 make a new way possible. The elixir sought for 
 by Paracelsus will be discovered, also the spirit- 
 ual force contained in the ether. 
 
 As man evolves he will discover that life should 
 be laid down at will, not as the result of disease. 
 
OHAPTEE V 
 
 THE COMING EAOB 
 
 In the years that shall be, ye shall harness the powers of 
 
 the ether, 
 And drive them with reins as a steed. 
 
 Ye shall ride as a Power of the air, on a force that is bridled, 
 On a saddled Element leap. 
 
 In that day shall a man out of uttermost India whisper. 
 And in England his friend shall hear. 
 
 Stephen PhilUps 
 
 IF you could be with me now and see the prep- 
 arations being made for your earth, you 
 would rejoice. There are glorious beings 
 ready to incarnate in the new Race. These are 
 they who have come through great tribulation and 
 have washed their robes and made them white in 
 the blood of the Lamb. These mystic terms are 
 used to express the fact that their experiences 
 have been used to cleanse and purify them, and 
 that the Christ nature has made them ready for 
 the Christ life which is to be. Some are already 
 
 16 
 
THE COMING RACE 17 
 
 on your earth, they bear the stamp of the new 
 race upon them. The signs are unmistakable — 
 here are some. These beings are universal and 
 will not make for separation. They will think 
 on a large scale. There will not be minuteness 
 or endless details about their arrangements, but 
 a wide outlook and wise forethought ; the end of 
 an experience will be known at its beginning be- 
 cause they have learned to judge and discrimi- 
 nate. They will live simply and be much in the 
 open air. 
 
 You have seen and met them, they are growing 
 in numbers. As you near the end of the old 
 cycle there will be a great quickening. We are 
 using every means to bring to birth this large free 
 life. The colonies of Russia will surprise you 
 with their teachers and prophets. Tolstoi has a 
 vast following and has never ceased to work for 
 Russia. You will understand that in these later 
 days events will seem disastrous. This is only 
 in appearance. What is happening is really the 
 breaking up of old conditions, the preparation 
 for a fresh influx of Light and Life. This new 
 wine needs new bottles. A day is approaching 
 
18 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 when the sighing of men shall cease, and the glory 
 of a great Hope shall shine in the midst of them, 
 for there shall be brought to fruition and outward 
 manifestation the new earth now revealed within 
 the heart. 
 
 The children of the near future will realize 
 your highest ideals and noblest aspirations, for 
 your thoughts are now making the conditions of 
 their appearance. In their turn they will serve 
 the Highest on yet higher planes of being, and so 
 lift the race into the richer consciousness of God. 
 
 They will have new spiritual powers and will 
 discover the true laws of gravitation. With 
 their lighter, more ethereal bodies, they will draw 
 to themselves the finer elements in the atmosphere 
 and by this means will annihilate the cloudy 
 vapours of disease and ignorance on the planes 
 of illusion, breathing the self-sustaining breath 
 and using the ether for the refining of the physical 
 atoms. Less material and more spiritual, they 
 will penetrate those planes now open only to the 
 few. By aspiration and holy effort, man will 
 truly discover himself to be a little lower than 
 the angels, crowned with glory and honour. 
 
THE COMING EACE 19 
 
 Dwelling in the Spirit you see even now in your 
 midst the interaction between soul and body, the 
 thought and its expression. There is a deep seri- 
 ousness growing, a searching after the root 
 causes of many false conditions, such as has never 
 been seen before. Humanity wants truth and 
 righteousness for all. The evolving souls are al- 
 ready wearied out by the illusions of the separate 
 self life. 
 
 By faith you will see and enter into the prom- 
 ised land and never want to go back into the old 
 grooves again. Draw water from the living wells 
 of Truth and thus open in yourselves and the 
 Universe the door of the pure Love Life. So 
 shall we rise together in our desire to unfold the 
 glorious possibilities to those now in a state of 
 limitation. 
 
 Whenever the clouds of sense gather about you, 
 pierce through with your soul forces and rise 
 above the depression ; by so doing you really make 
 light and joy for many. 
 
 We know that all who read this little book may 
 be lifted into the strength and glory of this new 
 and living Way, raised into the larger life of God 
 
20 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUOTION 
 
 here and now. For this present time of stress 
 remember there is with you and in you One Who 
 says : " When thou passest through the waters 
 I will be with thee, the floods shall not over- 
 whelm thee." Old age with its fears and its mor- 
 bid beliefs in the wickedness of human nature and 
 the exceeding sinfulness of sin is passing for ever. 
 All dread of the future, of punishment and of 
 death must be put away from your thoughts, that 
 the true Life, the living Christ, may reign and put 
 these enemies under His feet. 
 
 Life builds and its buildings are eternal, con- 
 taining no element of destruction but ever making 
 all things anew. I am come that they might have 
 life . . . abundant life ... in all its fulness. 
 Eich life currents engulf your whole being. Re- 
 spond to their energy, be one with them, abandon 
 yourself and drink of their live-giving streams. 
 
 The Spirit in you seeks its complete union with 
 the whole of Life. Love with heart, soul and 
 mind, thus shall every avenue be opened to the 
 Life that hath its breath and being in yourself. 
 These are most surely the true reconstructive 
 steps from the Heart of Life, the holiest and high- 
 
THE COMING EAOE 21 
 
 est preparation for the purer race that shall be 
 reborn in your midst from the spheres of Love 
 and Unity. With them life is consciously one, 
 and separation an illusion of the senses. They 
 are filled with the fulness of God. "He hath 
 ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill 
 all things . . . unto the measure and the stature 
 of the fulness of Christ." All that the Father 
 hath is Mine, is thine, says the great Teacher. 
 Place before yourselves the high calling of Jesus, 
 the Christ, and you will not fail to set in motion 
 silent, subtle, irresistible force which shall re- 
 charge the world with the Christ energy. 
 
 Do not look back, but up and on, full of cour- 
 age, but build with your thought and your 
 imagination that which shall be. Take the forces 
 of life at your disposal and reconstruct, stone by 
 stone, the great Universal Temple, which shall 
 have one foundation, the Eternal Christ. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 HAIL, MARY 
 
 And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men. 
 
 How do you know who shall come from the offspring of his 
 
 offspring through the centuries? 
 If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred. 
 
 Walt Whitman 
 
 IT is highly important that you learn to con- 
 trol the physical body for the benefit of the 
 future race, and for the higher work which 
 lies before you. It was never intended that you 
 should be in bondage to physical conditions. We 
 on this side have great reverence for the mothers 
 of the unborn. They are often surrounded by 
 Heavenly Beings who shield and defend the com- 
 ing child. The mother is very susceptible to 
 higher influences during these months of prepara- 
 tion, and we help her to keep an environment of 
 purity and mental strength. All should take 
 part in this by means of protective thought and 
 prayer. She is the sacred symbol of the divine 
 
 22 
 
HAIL, MARY 23 
 
 feminine and will ultimately lead us back to the 
 motherhood of God. There are bands of us sent 
 out to minister to lonely ones who think they are 
 separated from those dear to them. They must 
 have special help, as they are of much value to 
 your earth in this work of reconstruction. 
 
 I have just come from work of this kind and I 
 ask your help. As I so often tell you, we can do 
 much, but it is you who have the physical voice 
 and touch. Express love in the highest degree of 
 which you are capable, and you will be fulfilling 
 the law and revealing within yourself rich 
 spiritual gifts. Love is healing, it dissipates the 
 clouds of darkness and despair. I have been 
 helping along with others in France. I may tell 
 you of one instance in which love healed the soul 
 and saved it from despair. We felt a call of the 
 spirit and came at once in answer. A woman 
 sat in deep mourning, weeping bitterly and 
 weighed down with grief. By her side — but in- 
 visible to her — knelt her husband, trying to com- 
 fort her and making great efforts to reach her 
 thoughts; but at each recollection of him she 
 wept afresh, until at last the bewildered soldier 
 
24 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 looked upward with hpartbreak manifestation in 
 face and voice, and prayed : " Oh God, help us ! 
 Tell her I am alive and that our child must be 
 born. Help us both, for Christ's sake." Then 
 one of our number swiftly drew near and smiled 
 with confidence at the man, who was greatly re- 
 lieved by this answer to his prayer. He was 
 grateful to the sweet presence, so full of loving 
 sympathy, so human, and possessed of such true 
 womanly instinct. My friend quickly saw that 
 the strongest influence in the woman's life had 
 been her own mother's love, so she put her hand 
 lovingly on the weeping woman's shoulder and 
 changed the thought vibrations by reminding her 
 strongly of her mother. Thereupon she looked 
 up, and became aware of a presence in the room. 
 She next thought her mother was standing be- 
 fore her, and began to pour forth her heart's sor- 
 row. This in itself began the healing. Memories 
 touched by this vibration of the mother comfort- 
 ing the little childish griefs came crowding in, 
 awakening in her heart her own responsibility to- 
 wards the unborn. At this point the husband 
 was able to reach her with an assurance of his 
 
HAIL, MARY 25 
 
 love, reminding her of the child they had talked 
 of and prayed for together. Soon the temptation 
 to give up all and to die disappeared. We all 
 helped to strengthen her love and faith in God. 
 She prayed quietly for a moment, then looked up 
 and said : " I will live for his sake, for his great 
 love." At this the husband smiled and seemed 
 contented. Our Helpers have been much with 
 her, and, not long ago, this fine French girl gave 
 birth to One who has come to help France. The 
 husband is now in a better and higher position, 
 able to protect his wife and the child; he will 
 help them both to attain to his and their own 
 ideals. Life is full of order, if you could see it 
 as a whole, and not in phases. Only keep your 
 faith in the great Love. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CLEANSED TEMPLE 
 
 By one's self is evil done, and by one's self one suffers. 
 By one's self evil is left undone, and by one's self one is 
 purified. Purity and impurity belong to one's self, no one 
 can purify another. 
 
 Buddhist Scriptures 
 
 CLEANSE your hearts and not your gar- 
 ments that you may have the mind of 
 Christ. Make room for Love, that it may 
 cleanse and purify the thoughts. Christ in the 
 heart is the true life principle, the means by 
 which the Infinite Intelligence communicates 
 with us all. 
 
 The mind which is pure is open at all times to 
 the purest. As you begin to cleanse the mind, 
 you realize what a great work this is. To turn 
 out the storehouse of memory you will have to 
 strike at the roots of the old race consciousness. 
 Every day this will be necessary in thought, act 
 and speech. The best and highest way to begin 
 is to recognize the eternal present, the I am. 
 
 26 
 
THE CLEANSED TEMPLE 27 
 
 You have no past records ; all your knowledge of 
 life and being is in the divine intelligence. Ke- 
 member this all day long, and you create uncon- 
 sciously an atmosphere of love and purity. 
 Whenever your thoughts turn to the nations at 
 war with us, send out love. Every love thought 
 kills a thought of hate; for love is the weapon 
 that wins. You will love your enemies. 
 
 These words may seem very simple to you, but 
 let them be in your lives as positive truths. God 
 grant it. There is so much waiting to be done, 
 real work of the spirit, but you cannot do such 
 work without preparation. You are in the world 
 for the purpose of manifesting the works of God. 
 Think of this and you will see the need for a 
 pure heart and mind. Do not be misled by any 
 man-made laws. Ask of that highest self within 
 what the word treason really means, and you 
 will learn that it is disloyalty to Truth, the denial 
 of Christ. There is no other treason than this, 
 and a man's foes are those of his own environ- 
 ment, over which he should have supreme com- 
 mand. 
 
 A most subtle enemy is discouragement. The 
 
28 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 voice of the spirit says: "Be not dismayed. 
 Fear not. Be strong and of good courage. Let 
 God arise in thee and His enemies shall be scat- 
 tered. Christ shall be magnified in thee." The 
 only true patriotism is that all men may acknowl- 
 edge one King, the Eternal Christ of God. You 
 will need all your courage and faith for the com- 
 ing days. After the crucifixion, the nations are 
 in great fear. The vibrations of those tre- 
 mendous forces in the spiritual realm will cause 
 great disruption on the material plane, because 
 there will be a complete change in all the old- 
 world schemes. Fresh methods, finer resources 
 will be brought to bear on material conditions, 
 and much that has seemed of considerable im- 
 portance will be entirely subordinated to the more 
 necessary and vital concerns of life. 
 
 Men and women will be more ready for com- 
 radeship and co-operation. Children will have 
 the education most helpful for their future and 
 for the good of the whole. The day is dawning, 
 and those who dwell in the innermost must keep 
 watch before the sanctuary of the heart. As a 
 nation, you have made the great sacrifice for 
 
THE CLEANSED TEMPLE 29 
 
 purification. Now is the time to root out all 
 those secret sins and vices which sap the vitality 
 of the people. It is far better for men to fall by 
 the sword than to lose truth and purity. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 KING IN THE NEW 
 
 God Is the Parent of men. He is compassionate and un- 
 wearied in blessing. He inspects kingdoms, and makes no 
 mistakes. Olear-seeing and intelligent, He dwells with men 
 in all their actions. 
 
 Chinese Scriptures 
 
 THE first steps have already been taken 
 for the great uplifting of the world. By 
 putting away the old race consciousness 
 you soon learn that all your religious teaching 
 has vanished — so closely interwoven with the 
 race memory in the subconsious deeps had it be- 
 come. You are in the world of Thought alone 
 with the Absolute, wherefrom everything of real 
 worth has been evolved. All that ever was is 
 now yours in all its purity. You are his eternal 
 Christ idea. 
 
 Set you face towards the future and the king- 
 dom that is to be. The symbols shown in all 
 religions are essentially the same. Eenunciation 
 
 so 
 
RING IN THE NEW 31 
 
 and sacrifice are continually being repeated with 
 higher meanings in each cycle; there is always 
 the same root idea, pure unselfishness and sacrifi- 
 cial love. The Holy Spirit is the Breath of 
 God by which men live. 
 
 Even if you had no memory of these things 
 they are forever in the Eternal Mind and in- 
 separable from evolution. It is all true, as the 
 mystic shows. They are inner experiences of 
 every life. This is the message of Jesus. 
 
 This great Teacher rose to the Divine con- 
 sciousness on behalf of the human race and re- 
 vealed by these holy acts the Spiritual Idea of 
 the Eternal Christ. You have long since learned 
 that nothing external avails, all evolution springs 
 from within. This does not make for isolation 
 but rather for union with all. No man can live 
 to himself. This is an impossibility, as the whole 
 race is one, and any spiritual attainment focused 
 in you is spiritually available for all. Although 
 some may receive illumination sooner than others, 
 all are enriched. The soul of life is about to be- 
 come manifest, and in the fulness of time that 
 which Jesus came to teach will be realized by the 
 
32 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUCTION 
 
 whole race. Prepare ye the way for this Holy 
 One, make the place of His feet glorious. 
 
 The Christ of theology has taught many things, 
 but the Christ within is the great Revealer and 
 will teach you all things and bring to remem- 
 brance your pre-existence before the world was. 
 You cannot attain Christhood in any other way. 
 Get back to your source and centre, the I am, and 
 learn your true descent, get a vision of your 
 high destiny and in patience possess your souls. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 " BE YE DOERS OF THE WORD AND NOT HEARERS 
 ONLY " 
 
 Be noble! and the nobleness that lies 
 In other men sleeping but never dead 
 Will rise in majesty to meet thine own, 
 Then wilt thou see it gleam in many eyes. 
 
 Lowell 
 
 YOUR heaven is here, your hell is here, 
 and every intermediate state of exist- 
 ence is here. The Holy Trinity, Father, 
 Son and Spirit, work through the individual 
 human soul, which is so precious to the Heart 
 of Love, and necessary to the whole Body of 
 Life. Get free from the plane of illusion, 
 so that the soul set free may mount on the two 
 wings of simplicity and purity, and " in thy flesh 
 shalt thou see God " with thine own eyes, not 
 with another's. 
 
 We want to reveal the higher possibilities of 
 the Christian life. So many good people, having 
 
 33 
 
34 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 gained the inner assurance of their own salvation, 
 feel that henceforth their work must be to show 
 others by preaching and teaching that they too 
 can be saved and live through all eternity. This 
 is not the whole aim and end of the Christian 
 teaching. It means vastly more, as is intimated 
 constantly in the words of Jesus, who spoke of 
 " the Bread of Life " and " the well of Living 
 Water," and who also said : " I have many 
 things to show you, but ye cannot bear them 
 now." Conversion is turning towards the path 
 that you may enter the door which leads to the 
 way, the truth and the life. 
 
 The time has come for greater revelation. The 
 inner word, the vital principles of Christianity, 
 are about to be realized, and much help will be 
 given from higher sources, the object being that 
 you may see the deeper meanings behind the exist- 
 ing word. Your message to others will convey 
 more than a concern for their personal safety or 
 future happiness. Indeed, they have never been 
 lost, they remain unawakened and in the miry 
 clay of materialism. It is high time to awake 
 out of this sleep in the sense world. As disciples 
 
BE YE DOERS OF THE WOED 35 
 
 of the Master, you must help them to unveil the 
 Light within, that they may be helped here and 
 now and not in some distant future. Your life 
 is hid with Christ in God and all things are yours. 
 
 As partakers of His divine nature, are you 
 healing the sick? Are you giving sight to the 
 blind? Are you giving any evidence to the world 
 of ignorance and pain that you are co-workers 
 with God? We see that the time has come for 
 this God manifestation. Seek to know more of 
 the Christ principles and you shall surely find 
 light. Do not fail your brethren in these days 
 of great need. We are helping you by preparing 
 the hearts and minds of the people, so that they 
 may be more receptive and ready to listen to this 
 message and open their minds to fresh ideas. 
 The will of God operates through you for human- 
 ity. 
 
 In these days there is a readiness to rebuild in 
 every branch of human activity, but unless you 
 begin from root causes, your work will not last. 
 Love must take the place of greed and all the 
 outer channels of service must have, as their basis, 
 righteousness and truth. Your earth has passed 
 
36 SPIRITUAL EEOONSTRUCTION 
 
 through the refiners' fire, and the present suffer- 
 ing will not be in vain if a repetition of the old 
 errors in these fresh organizations is now 
 avoided. 
 
 The sorrows of your earth have drawn into 
 your midst great shining hosts imbued with the 
 sympathies of the heaven world. They come to 
 succour and comfort, and we are united by strong 
 bonds of pure love. 
 
 The passing of some of your loved ones has 
 been blessed and holy, they have truly entered 
 home, a place where the whole nature is at rest 
 and they have found the most great peace. 
 
 The spiritual laws have a wider sphere of ac- 
 tion than ever before. Co-operate with us in this 
 reconstructive and regenerating process by work- 
 ing from your true foundation, the spiritual 
 plane, and being guided by your own Christ prin- 
 ciples. You have great potentialities; seek fur- 
 ther, you are so near to the kingdom of victory 
 and power. I have longed to return to earth, if 
 but to tell you of the evidences of truth every- 
 where — in the world of nature around you, in 
 humanity, in your Holy Book. There you will 
 
BE YE DOEES OF THE WOED 37 
 
 find words that express the spiritual Thought 
 for every condition of the human soul and body. 
 All things are open to you, the sense of mystery 
 is in your own soul. You may take some of the 
 sentences of the Great Master, and according to 
 your illumination, your inner spiritual discern- 
 ment, you will get much or little, but always suf- 
 ficient for your immediate need. Take the sub- 
 lime sentences, " Come unto Me all ye that labour 
 and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. . . . 
 Learn of Me. Take My yoke upon you. . . . 
 My yoke is easy. My burden is light. ... I am 
 meek and lowly. ... Ye shall find rest unto 
 your souls. . . . And whither I go ye know and 
 the way ye know." From these sentences the 
 child soul receives rest and comfort and becomes 
 a more earnest seeker, but to the soul in which 
 the Christ Body is formed the whole Logos opens 
 in these words; to such there is revealed his 
 own identity with the Christ of God. This 
 applies also to many parts of the Bible; to 
 some it appears mystery on mystery, paradox 
 and contradiction, but lighted by the inner spirit 
 it becomes an open well of ever fresh upspringing 
 
38 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 truth, which will never become exhausted, but 
 will reveal more and more as your own soul be- 
 comes purified and freed from material clouds. 
 This Light of Lights shall pierce every mist of 
 ignorance and fear, and the same Light lighteth 
 every man, so that all may attain to this pure 
 vision and discern the mystery everywhere pro- 
 claimed. 
 
 In life we make our own values by this same 
 divine method, enriching and ennobling according 
 to our own interior wealth and nobility; seeing 
 that which is without modelled to that which is 
 within, eternally reconstructing, making anew, 
 by our own God-given creative power. In the 
 ordinary walk of life, in our words, we convey 
 the message of the Spirit bringing life and im- 
 mortality to light, so that in very deed we offer 
 the Chalice that contains the true Wine and feed 
 the hungry with the Bread of Life. 
 
 Rich suggestions run through your Bible like 
 threads of gold. Look beyond the letter to the 
 spirit of the written word. The intuitions of the 
 heart are the true instructors. Trust with thine 
 heart and do not follow mental perceptions. 
 
BE YE DOEKS OF THE WOED 39 
 
 Happy is the man who findeth this wisdom of the 
 heart, the gain thereof is better than much fine 
 gold. Of this Divine wisdom it is said : " She 
 is more precious than rubies, and all the things 
 thou canst desire are not to be compared unto 
 her. Length of days is in her right hand, and 
 in her left riches and honour." 
 
 The spirit in us searcheth the deeps of God 
 wherein we find ourselves. From this stand- 
 point we learn our true place and work in every 
 sphere here or there. It is the very prominence 
 of God that blinds men — all penetrating, all per- 
 vading, close at hand in thine heart, with thee 
 as thou readest these words. The soul knows 
 and feels this instant that : 
 
 The Holy of Holies is within, 
 The Christ principle is yours. 
 
 The power that will reconstruct your whole 
 nature and bring about the redemption of the 
 world is within. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE EVOLVING CONSCIOUSNESS 
 
 Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 
 As the swift seasons roll ! 
 Leave thy low vaulted past! 
 Let each new temple, nobler than the last. 
 Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast. 
 Tin thou at length art free, 
 
 Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea. 
 
 Holmes 
 
 OUESTION.— I should like to ask : what 
 is the meaning of this experience? I feel 
 myself slowly suffused with a breath 
 other than the ordinary breath. It is very per- 
 meating and holy. It is also powerful, causing 
 the whole body to vibrate. 
 
 ANSWEE. — It is a physical manifestation of 
 an inner spiritual force. You are consciously 
 drawing into the outer a current of vital power 
 from the central life, known to mystics as the 
 holy breath. The vibrations are equal in their 
 effect to a strong electric shock. As you evolve, 
 
 40 
 
THE EVOLVING CONSCIOUSNESS 41 
 
 this same force causes you, by a disintegrating 
 process, to become invisible at will, but you muist 
 learn to control the will first, otherwise it will 
 be difficult to re-enter your body or to return to 
 the physical plane. 
 
 The emotions of mystics are often prophetic of 
 world movements to come. The mystic becomes 
 a focusing point and receives impressions from 
 the supersensual planes before they manifest on 
 the physical. 
 
 Jesus was able to become invisible at will, leav- 
 ing no trace of the body. This is a much higher 
 method than leaving the body apparently asleep. 
 We do not suggest investigation along these lines ; 
 just now there is so much to be done close at 
 hand, first steps, as it were, in evolution. Man 
 has taken his ideas largely from appearances in 
 the natural world. You will get fresh points of 
 view later, and will discover that no animal or 
 plant really evolves at the expense of another, 
 There are spiritual forces at work in nature, be- 
 hind the phenomena, all the time. The absolute 
 is unchanging perfection; it is we who are 
 continually getting deeper knowledge through 
 
42 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 evolving consciousness. On the spiritual plane 
 there is no loss, no separation. 
 
 Earth will be so strengthened and purified by 
 the present suffering that she will be helped for- 
 ward in her evolution ; no nation, however, rises 
 at the expense of another. Each move upward 
 must be for the good of all. Your victory means 
 increased responsibility. There must be a broth- 
 erhood of nations. 
 
 At this juncture of the earth's history only 
 divine love and wisdom can meet the need. If 
 you could only look on the process as we do, you 
 would not hesitate to say : " I will follow only 
 the dictates of the spirit in every action of life." 
 There are wide issues at stake, because fresh 
 territory means — the question of the coloured 
 races, a larger Brotherhood, more and more of 
 the all-embracing Love. The East and the West 
 shall meet for the good of each and all. You 
 must draw near to the heart of the people and 
 help their evolution along their own Path, you 
 must not try to make them British. Try to be 
 more universal. You were very near to dissolu- 
 tion because of national divergence in thought 
 
THE EVOLVING CONSCIOUSNESS 43 
 
 and. desire. Take care now to rise above 
 separateness or you will find yourselves isolated 
 as a people. Join liands with the good every- 
 where. We see thousands in Germany stretch- 
 ing out hands of love towards you, asking for 
 your co-operation and sympathy. Think of it — 
 England to co-operate with Germany, with the 
 German peoples who have suffered enormously 
 for the ignorance of their fellow-countrymen. 
 You are a long way from co-operation at present, 
 but we believe in it and in you. God shall bring 
 it to pass. See to the enemy within your own 
 gates making for separation even now. 
 
CHAPTEE XI 
 
 THE ETERNAL FOUNDATION 
 
 Never the spirit was born ; the spirit shall cease to be never ; 
 Never was time it was not ; End and Beginning are dreams ! 
 Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit 
 
 for ever ; 
 Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of 
 it seems! 
 
 Bhagavad-OitA 
 (Sir Edwin Arnold's translation) 
 
 THE perfect, the everlasting spirit is your 
 true life — Christ is the power, the mani- 
 festing principle, that the Father may be 
 glorified in the Son continually. Within you 
 is the soul of the whole, the centre of life ever 
 making for expression. It is difl&cult for you to 
 realize this because you believe in space. You 
 think of vast areas of emptiness, myriads of miles 
 of ether. Space is no more than a thought, is in 
 fact non-existent. When I speak of the life move- 
 ment through space, I mean the creative evolving 
 principle which obeys the will of God within you. 
 
 44 
 
THE ETERNAL FOUNDATION 45 
 
 There is no oblivion, but there is perfect rest 
 and peace in the heart of the Eternal. Get back 
 to the centre, it is the circumference that wearies 
 you. 
 
 We could not have come in such strength to 
 help you from our side, but for the pathway of 
 light opened to us by means of this war. Pure 
 unselfish love has opened the door for more of 
 God. You will never again sink into such dense 
 materialism. The spirit of life (not of death) 
 has been stirring the strongholds of materialism. 
 It was meant that all should feel the stirring 
 and be moved. You have all an individual part 
 to take in bringing about better conditions. 
 By getting back now to the highest within 
 yourself, and by obedience to higher laws, you 
 will lay foundations that can never be moved, 
 foundations upon which the coming generations 
 shall rebuild a purer and holier empire. Let this 
 thought sink deep — If you alone begin from this 
 moment to think truly and live out the Christ 
 life just where you are, you help the whole world. 
 The circle widens and strengthens. We know 
 the truth of this, and that only in this way can 
 
46 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUCTION 
 
 the real work be done. Make room for love and 
 goodwill; you are not yet ready for peace. Do 
 not prolong the issue by having war in your 
 heart. 
 
 Believe positively in truth. Jesus said that 
 signs shall follow ; hands shall be laid on the sick 
 and they shall recover. I assure you that this 
 living working principle is vital at the present 
 time. A city which cannot be moved is ready to 
 be built on the eternal foundation, and only 
 through individuals can the work be accom- 
 plished. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE soul's WAKFAEE 
 
 We see but half the causes of our deeds, 
 Seeking them wholly In the outer life 
 And heedless of the encircling spirit world, 
 Which, though unseen, is felt and sows In us 
 All germs of pure and world-wide purposes. 
 
 Lowell 
 
 TN this present war it is important to remem- 
 ber that it is the souls of the nations that are 
 at grips with each other. You are making 
 great sacrifices, and using potential spiritual 
 forces sometimes at random. There is a vast 
 amount of work to be done for you on higher 
 planes. Some of you are ready to help where 
 you are now. There should be a redirection of 
 spiritual energy, that .your efforts may be wisely 
 utilized for the highest good of all, that right 
 action may take precedence in all things. Your 
 great spiritual and temporal leaders have been 
 called to this high service. You will be helped 
 
 47 
 
48 SPIRITUAL EECONSTEUCTION 
 
 as you could not otherwise have been but for their 
 co-operation with heavenly forces. At this mo- 
 ment they are strong and free to act, they rejoice 
 in being able to serve your world with new and 
 splendid powers. 
 
 Your men who gave themselves willingly, along 
 with their leaders, are the real saviours of the 
 country, not because of their victories on the 
 physical plane, but because of their high motive 
 and spiritual energy. They gave themselves for 
 the nation's good, and they are now serving you 
 in far more vital ways. 
 
 The real war is not " against flesh and blood 
 but against principalities and powers, against 
 the rulers of the darkness of this world, against 
 spiritual wickedness in high places." The prin- 
 ciples and liberties of the whole are being assailed 
 by the forces that make for destruction and 
 separateness. God is turning the tide of power 
 into right channels for the good of all humanity. 
 True brotherhood can be established in no other 
 
 WAY. 
 
 This is a time of inner and outer warfare such 
 as the world has never known, and when finished 
 
THE SOUL'S WAEFARE 49 
 
 this warfare will be recognized as the main factor 
 in the true evolution of the spiritual man who 
 shall walk uprightly, work righteousness and 
 speak the truth in his heart. The darkness which 
 is at hand will be only for a season. Eemember 
 the Master's words, " Be not troubled." The 
 soul of the nation is striving for purity and 
 righteousness. God is manifesting through this 
 regenerating process. The soul of life is not con- 
 tained in one particular nation or people, it is 
 within the elect of all the earth, without distinc- 
 tion of race or colour. Take your place on the 
 side of right within yourselves, led by the spirit ; 
 only there is the true place of warfare and its is- 
 sues. . " Keep thine heart with all diligence, for 
 out of it are all the issues of life." You will 
 soon realize that you are one of a mighty host 
 whose every move is Godward. Life is great or 
 small according to your awareness. You may be 
 conscious only of a small environment and may 
 feel many limitations. This is not the will of 
 God for you. By deep self-knowledge you be- 
 come aware of the soul of life filling all space 
 and You may identify yourself with this omni- 
 
50 SPIEITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 present and transcendent life. It is the life which 
 is the light of all men. Your spirit at one with 
 this great Self will stir the universe and break 
 the prison house of the soul of man. Live not 
 after the flesh but after the spirit. You will lift 
 many into this God-consciousness, the new and 
 living way. While this holy war is being waged, 
 Christ shall reign in you and put all enemies 
 under His feet. 
 
 In the higher realms when a soul is about to 
 be sent forth, there are those who help the soul 
 to choose the conditions best suited for the de- 
 velopment of qualities lacking in the perfecting of 
 the individual and aiming at the good of all. 
 The place chosen is where the creative spirit in 
 each soul has a work to do and an environment 
 to make. This is the building of life and char- 
 acter, the power of spirit creating worlds, life 
 and spiritual substance where before was chaos 
 and disorder. There is no waste of energy or 
 material in the whole fabric of the universe. All 
 is good, and the purpose of the higher intelligence 
 is to bring all things into harmony with itself, 
 to bring light and immortality into evidence by 
 
THE SOUL'S WARFAEE 51 
 
 assimilation and construction. This is known to 
 you as the movement of life through space. In 
 these tremendous plans each soul is given its 
 place and power; this is why your place is just 
 where it is, that you may accomplish in yourself 
 the work you came to do. By the great Intel- 
 ligence all is known from the beginning — the 
 whole history of this present war and the issues 
 of these world forces now apparently in tumult 
 and disorder. It will not end yet, but during the 
 next twelve months you will go through your 
 worst. The end will be in 1919. 
 
GHAPTER XIII 
 
 INTUITION 
 
 Moreover, something Is or seems, 
 That touches me with mystic gleams, 
 Like glimpses of forgotten dreams — 
 Of something felt, like something here, 
 Of something done I know not where, 
 Such as no language may declare. 
 
 Tennyson 
 
 YOU will find that the Master Jesus, on 
 almost every occasion of teaching and 
 healing, used the power of intuition. It 
 is revealed in such sentences as these : " But 
 He knew their thoughts," and " Jesus perceived 
 their reasonings " ; also when the woman in the 
 crowd touched Him, He said, " Who is it that 
 touched Me? " There are many such sentences. 
 Intuition perceives by feeling, which is really 
 clear hearing and seeing combined with under- 
 standing. 
 
 By intuition you become aware of our presence 
 with you and of great spiritual movements in 
 
 62 
 
INTUITION 53 
 
 higher spheres. By it also you will know the 
 great Ones in the flesh among you now. There 
 are many on the earth plane more highly evolved 
 than some of us here, and we learn a great deal 
 from them. They are the hidden Ministers of the 
 Most High. They are meek and lowly in spirit 
 and the servants of all. Now, as before, the 
 prophets are killed and the Masters unheeded. 
 Their wqrk is of the highest value to all man- 
 kind and men are blessed by their rich interior 
 lives. Listen to them, learn of them, and do not 
 miss all they have to teach you, for they have at- 
 tained to the Christ consciousness by loving union 
 Avith the lowliest as well as with the highest. 
 
 Life is too serious to disregard these Teachers, 
 since just now there is a great revolution in the 
 thought world, and this is the reason of our 
 anxious solicitude that you should rebuild and 
 reconstruct' with the finest thought material. 
 Plans of order and harmony for your earth have 
 been made, plans of beauty and splendour for the 
 uplifting and blessing of your sorrow-stricken 
 world. Meet together, pray much, and glimpse 
 the creative plans awaiting realization now. 
 
54 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 One very sure way to apprehend divine mean- 
 ings in Life is by the intuitive faculty latent in 
 us all. It is such a delicate instrument, so hid- 
 den, that unless we search for it with love and 
 patience, we shall miss it. It recognizes all the 
 guiding forces in the soul. I will try to help you 
 to find this in yourself. You have hitherto been 
 trained to use the reasoning faculty, to follow 
 precedence, to be guided by another's experience, 
 for similar events in your own life, all unaware 
 that each soul must carve a path of its own. 
 This is why you should be extremely careful in 
 following any special leading. For every event 
 in life there is true guidance, and a right way out 
 of every difiiculty. It is actually meant that a 
 man should be able to turn within and say, " Thou 
 wilt show me the path of life." When a man is a 
 pioneer in any fresh path of science, or sets out 
 to find new methods, he must trust his intuitions ; 
 and when you feel a fresh thought arising, you 
 too should trust your inner guide. Jesus said: 
 " Blessed are ye that hear the Word of God." 
 If you keep your heart pure and full of love to 
 God and man, you will not fail in your search. 
 
INTUITION 55 
 
 These are the only conditions — Depend upon 
 this power within, get quiet, meditate, listen, and 
 if far down within your soul a feeble flash of 
 intelligence gleams, follow it, obey it, and later 
 it will be your guide and compass and will open 
 to you many doors. When a man follows for a 
 time the divine intuitions of the soul, he also pro- 
 vides a way for the higher Beings to send help. 
 For your particular part — and as you read you 
 know that you have a part — in this reconstruc- 
 tive work, listen only to the voice within ; it is of 
 far greater importance than any outer guidance 
 could be. 
 
 Blend your thoughts with the transcendent and 
 so draw into the human channel the higher In- 
 telligences. Here we speak without words and 
 follow the intuitions at all times. Our thoughts 
 are speech, and, according as we are allowed, we 
 interpret yours. It is the thoughts you send that 
 reach us, not words without thought. You may 
 always speak to us and we may answer you in 
 thought, so you see how the intuitions and 
 thoughts need to be kept free from clouds of fear 
 and doubt — the veils between us. We do hold 
 
56 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 intercourse with you on these inner planes, and 
 when you are silent we are intimately near, as 
 you often feel. Imagination is a frequent aid to 
 spiritual perception; we can reach you through 
 the image-making faculty. You prepare a 
 thought form which we instantly inhabit, in order 
 to convince you of the reality of the thought 
 world and its interpenetrating power. Make 
 mention of us in your prayers. Speak to each 
 other gladly of your dear ones here, think of 
 them as happy and very often joyous and free. 
 " The souls of the righteous are in the hands of 
 God ; in the sight of the unwise they seem to die, 
 but they are in peace." 
 
 It is the intuition also that reveals God in na- 
 ture and unveils that mystic realm where we 
 hear the stars sing together and listen to the in- 
 ner voices in woodland, grass and stream. The 
 glorious forms with their infinite variety are the 
 thoughts and expressions of the beauty of God. 
 You will feel a depth of holiness and sublimity 
 when you get through the mystic gate into the 
 spirit and glory of nature. You will love her, 
 until she becomes at one with you and yields up 
 
INTUITION 57 
 
 her secrets to you, and within all you will feel 
 the rhythm and heart beat of the Eternal. To 
 reproduce the beauties of nature in form is to 
 build and shape after the pattern of the divine 
 Architect of the Universe. Come into your own 
 kingdom and bring forth treasure new and old. 
 
CHAPTEK XIV 
 
 NOT BY MIGHT — BY MY SPIRIT 
 
 Know well, my soul, God's hand controls 
 
 Whate'er thou fearest. 
 Round Him In calmest music rolls 
 
 Whate'er thou hearest. 
 What to thee is shadow, to Him is day, 
 
 And the end He knoweth, 
 And not on a blind and aimless way 
 
 The spirit goeth. 
 
 Whittier 
 
 VEEY frequently ministers, priests and 
 teachers who are with us here, long to re- 
 turn to you, and knowing we can reach 
 you, say : " We were blind and missed so much." 
 " Tell them how true the words of Jesus are : 
 ' The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. Ye 
 therefore shall be perfect even as your Father in 
 Heaven is perfect.' " We long to help you to 
 know and to be. If you want your children to 
 develop the highest qualities, it is for you to pre- 
 pare the way by gently leading the little feet into 
 
 58 
 
NOT BY MIGHT — BY MY SPIRIT 59 
 
 right paths where no outer force can hinder the 
 soul's true development. There will be a period 
 of darkness, a time of stress, quite at the close 
 of this cycle. You will prepare yourselves and 
 them for the coming days. New and deep 
 spiritual power will be given as the need arises, 
 but you need to be ready. " Quit ye like men, be 
 strong." Let us face the necessities and rise 
 above the oncoming wave. 
 
 It is nearly the end of the old cycle; there is 
 being brought to birth this fresh consciousness 
 of God. Many of you who read this book are 
 ready and will be the means by which God brings 
 forth His fresh revelation of life. He cometh 
 as a thief in the night — that is to say, all un- 
 observed and silent. The day of His coming is 
 at hand, and your work is at the gates. Begin 
 with yourself. " Watch and pray, and again 
 I say. Watch and pray," and tomorrow you shall 
 have more strength, more light. Be led of the 
 spirit, and you will be gradually transformed in- 
 teriorly, — literally Christ will be formed in 
 you, — ruled by the Holy Spirit you will be lifted 
 above the sense plane and all its illusions. Vast 
 
60 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 armies of the Unseen are sending waves of pure 
 spiritual power and will continue to do so. 
 Strong in this strength you will speak the Word 
 that shall heal and bless. You already have 
 divine pity in your heart for sorrow and suffer- 
 ing, but you shall have the Grace of the Lord 
 Jesus, and your comfort and sympathy shall mean 
 the putting away of sorrow and the healing of 
 pain. Strong to love, seeing the divine in all life, 
 having the sword of the spirit, you will scatter 
 the powers of darkness, ignorance and fear. In 
 the spring of the year 1919, strong spiritual 
 forces will control the earth, and you will be as- 
 tonished at much that you see. There will be a 
 sorting out of the wheat from the tares, in all the 
 leading departments of life. Many men and 
 women will be placed in positions of authority 
 and responsibility who have hitherto been con- 
 sidered simple and unlearned. The whole politi- 
 cal system will be gradually changed and only 
 those men will remain in power who are the 
 chosen and the fit. Wherever wrong rulers exist, 
 means from our side will be used to remove such 
 from positions of power, as the earth is to be 
 
NOT BY MIGHT — BY MY SPIRIT 61 
 
 purified, and conditions to be made so that the 
 least as well as the greatest shall have their true 
 birthright, a suitable place and means of exist- 
 ence. You are getting rid of mental slums, and 
 the outer results will be purer cities and healthy 
 spaces, where evolution is not hindered by in- 
 justice, selfishness and greed. 
 
 These changes will be brought about gradually ; 
 even now the chief obstacles are being attacked 
 at the roots by this War, unknown to any on your 
 side. 
 
 A great Teacher will come to you later, and 
 bring with Him new ideals; the essence of His 
 teaching will be simplicity and truth. The real 
 power in the future will be given to the builders 
 of the race, the workers and saviours of the 
 people. 
 
 The child in your midst has a great and holy 
 work in the future. Help the children to de- 
 velop the highest within them. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 VISION — VICTORY 
 
 And since it is most natural to wish to be in God, the 
 human soul naturally wills it with all longing. And since 
 its being depends on God and is preserved thereby, it 
 naturally desires and wills to be united with God, in order 
 to justify its being. 
 
 Dante 
 
 THERE is some confusion between two 
 schools of thought in your midst. The 
 one holds that the absolute, the perfect 
 is already in manifestation, and that here and 
 now you are immune from sickness, accident and 
 death; that the true conception of God and the 
 Universe is obtained by a mental process. The 
 other holds that the true understanding is ar- 
 rived at by and through the evolution of the 
 spiritual consciousness in man, and that he comes 
 in time through many and varied experiences to 
 the true apprehension and enjoyment of God. 
 
 62 
 
VISION — VICTOEY 63 
 
 They have each their own message to give, as you 
 will see. The absolute is unchanging, timeless, 
 spaceless, eternal, infinite Love and Wisdom. 
 Only Love can comprehend the source and centre, 
 and no mental process will lead us thither. In 
 the heart is the door, the revealing Christ, the one 
 mediator, opening to the origin and the goal of 
 all things, God ; and this door opens to the whole, 
 not to a part, to the fulness of the Godhead. 
 It is wise to remember that what the mind creates 
 the mind can destroy, but that which is bom in 
 the heart is the Eternal. It is also true that the 
 kingdom of heaven is apprehended through your 
 developing consciousness, and this explains the 
 reason of our continual seeking, the ideal always 
 appearing higher and clearer as the higher Self 
 within discards the many webs and veils of illu- 
 sion. You will behold with open face when love 
 reigns supreme in the human heart, not through 
 a glass darkly. It is in the heart, not in the 
 brain, that you receive divine illumination; at 
 best the mind is only a channel. 
 
 So here we find the points of agreement be- 
 tween the two schools now doing so much real 
 
64 SPIRITUAL EECONSTEUCTION 
 
 work in the reconstruction and re-presentation of 
 the teachings of Jesus. 
 
 Where there is no vision, the people perish. 
 John saw the new Jerusalem coming down out of 
 Heaven, so must you in spite of appearances see 
 the kingdom of light and order coming into actual 
 manifestation from the heavenly consciousness to 
 your earth. Those of the first school of Thought 
 have a partial glimpse of That which is, but they 
 ignore the states of consciousness necessary for its 
 full recognition and attainment. Those of the 
 second school in their extreme caution may lose 
 the vision to some extent, and also misunderstand 
 the use and meaning of Faith. Even the lowest 
 stage of blind faith leads ultimately to Faith with 
 Understanding. By Faith it is possible to 
 quicken the stages of evolution, and unfold the 
 flower of the high consciousness, the Christ con- 
 sciousness of God, Man and the Universe. By 
 Faith the heart draws wisdom and power from its 
 true wellsprings in the Infinite. Faith really is 
 the positive Will bringing into operation higher 
 laws, and overcoming negative states of inertia. 
 On the spiritual plane time has no meanings, as 
 
VISION — VICTORY 65 
 
 often a soul may evolve (through an acute ex- 
 perience lasting perhaps only a few hours) to a 
 state of consciousness, which in the ordinary way 
 would take a whole lifetime to unfold. 
 
 This present war is so quickening the evolution 
 of the nations that we see the greatest possibili- 
 ties of lasting good to be gained through these 
 terrible experiences. 
 
 Dwelling in God, you will manifest His idea 
 and pierce the veil of illusion. The realm of 
 thought and spirit is the true realm of pure exist- 
 ence. In the eternal mind the end is known 
 from the beginning. There is a place of sinless- 
 ness, a holy of holies in every soul, a temple for 
 the most High. The tabernacle of God is ever 
 with men. This is true also in nature. There 
 are centres in every planet, indestructible and 
 eternal, the seed thought for fresh cycles and re- 
 newals; without these true centres of spiritual 
 force the whole fabric would disintegrate. The 
 idea for man and the universe is perfection, and 
 this we must all keep perpetually in view and so 
 expand and express it in every way possible, 
 both in the unseen and on the plane of the senses. 
 
66 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 That your fellow-men will all attain to a perfect 
 knowledge of God ultimately is a creative thought 
 to hold as you look at them in every state of exist- 
 ence, however ignorant and dark. 
 
 On that wonderful day when Jesus was bap- 
 tized of John in Jordan and received the holy 
 chrism, the anointing, there came to Him a real- 
 ization of the fulness of the Godhead for all. 
 The spiritual universe was unveiled, Humanity 
 stood out as the divine Idea, and Jesus the 
 Christos sent out from Himself the holy Christ 
 consciousness for us all. There is a day, an hour, 
 when we emerge from the old bondage and limita- 
 tion into the largeness and freedom of real life 
 and liberty through the Christ of God, and in 
 those recorded words, " My beloved Son in 
 Whom I AM well pleased," we have a prophetic 
 vision of that glorified humanity. 
 
CHAPTEE XVI 
 
 THAT I MAY ATTAIN 
 ' Be of good cheer, I have overcome." 
 
 Jesus 
 
 TO be selfless and free, open only to the 
 universal love, is the real desire of us 
 all. In the great ocean of being which 
 we call life, there is the pure originating mind, 
 the real tide of the ocean. The opening of the 
 soul to the tides of the great active intelligence 
 constitutes the state of becoming, and in these 
 moments of receptivity the whole being is filled 
 with the creative impulse, just as the tide fills to 
 overflowing every empty space in the stream, and 
 seeks a further outlet for its abundant fulness. 
 This will suggest to you more than any mental 
 process, it will suggest the power of the life which 
 is ours. It is the urge of pure life forces welling 
 up in the soul, through the heart, soul, mind and 
 strength. To attain this is to love life through 
 these four channels, thus calling to yourself the 
 
 67 
 
68 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 tides of the ocean, and ever keeping the channel 
 clear for more and more of life, until the whole 
 earth is filled with the knowledge of God, as the 
 waters cover the sea. Just as you see the swirl 
 and movement in the new-created pool where the 
 ocean rushes in, so you may glimpse the whole 
 meaning of life and its creative urge in yourself. 
 Thus do you send forth the Word, the power of 
 becoming. You are using the creative impulse 
 to give and not to get. You have opened out into 
 the whole of time, the whole of being. Rest in 
 the certainty that the unceasing energy of this 
 latter will receive full manifestation. 
 
 To think of the Infinite in finite terms would 
 be impossible. We cannot define the limitless, or 
 explain God in any terms of time and space. We 
 may know of That which is all in all, in whom 
 we live and move and have our being, the eternal, 
 ever-present, I am^ through Jesus the Christ of 
 God. In Him we get a vision of the transcendent 
 and the immanent at one. In Him we see the 
 goal of humanity, the Christhood of the race. 
 We are making for the true centre when we ap- 
 proach, however feebly, to the apprehension of 
 
THAT I MAY ATTAIN 69 
 
 God in Christ. If as seekers you would try to 
 realize in your hearts some of the simplest teach- 
 ing of the Master, your real spiritual nature 
 would unfold. You will never be helped by ex- 
 ternals ; you must acquaint yourself with God. 
 
 Peter in a moment of illumination perceived 
 the meaning of Jesus, when he exclaimed, " Truly 
 Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," 
 not revealed by flesh and blood or by any word of 
 man. Feel after truth with your heart. The 
 true reconstmictive power comes with this Christ 
 consciousness in the individual. It is dawning 
 in the hearts of men all over the world. The day 
 of the old methods has long passed, and unless 
 the churches help men to discover what they them- 
 selves are potentially, they will have no message 
 for this day and generation. 
 
 It is high time to awake out of sleep, to put 
 forth these God-given powers, to become living 
 epistles, to magnify the Name. " Before Abra- 
 ham was I AM," says Jesus. Let this same 
 mind be in you, and you will surmount the 
 limitations of time and sense. You will become 
 aware of old stirrings in the subconscious deeps, 
 
70 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 you will learn something of what St. Paul means 
 by the carnal mind. That is a record of things 
 done in the flesh throughout the long past ages. 
 These must not dominate the higher type now 
 emerging from the long period of ignorance, any 
 more than we allow a defect to remain in a culti- 
 vated plant or tree. 
 
 Some of the paramount experiences have left 
 strong impressions — fear, passion, hate. These 
 have no place in the Christ consciousness. You 
 are the sons of God. At every reminder of fear, 
 strike at the root by realizing the word of power : 
 " I and the Father are One." Strike at the root, 
 break up the delusion and scatter it by the might 
 of love. If you persist for a time, these race 
 memories will die away. You have written a 
 stronger word in the subconscious deeps. These 
 tremble at your word and disappear; this is a 
 spiritual law, and you will find strong co-opera- 
 tion in every direction. Thus is the word of God 
 written in the heart. " Thy word have I hid in my 
 heart that I might not sin against Thee." Indeed, 
 the Psalms hold the key of life and are a complete 
 record of the soul through all its initiations. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE DARKNESS THAT PRECEDES THE DAWN 
 
 We shape ourselves, the joy or fear 
 Of which the coming life is made, 
 
 And fill our future's atmosphere 
 With sunshine or with shade. 
 
 The tissue of the life to be 
 
 We weave with colours all our own. 
 
 And in the field of destiny 
 We reap as we have sown. 
 
 WMttier 
 
 OUESTIONS.— Why was such a means as 
 this dreadful war used to bring about a 
 bettei* state of things? 
 How do you reconcile war with the words of 
 Jesus : " Thou shalt not kill "? 
 
 ANSWEE. — The war was not the method 
 chosen to bring about good. It is the working 
 out of an eternal law of cause and effect. The 
 present crisis is a means used by divine love and 
 wisdom to make all experiences work together for 
 
 good, it is not in any sense a divine plan. The 
 
 71 
 
72 THE DAKKNESS 
 
 power was in your own hands to glide harmo- 
 niously out of the old dispensation and into the 
 new. Some of you will do this as it is. The war 
 was begun long before you met on the fields of ' 
 battle. It was in the mental atmosphere pro- 
 jected by your thoughts and desires in the past. 
 To a large extent you are guilty, as well as your 
 enemy. Let us be thorough in our uprooting and 
 get at beginnings. 
 
 You declared war upon every other nation 
 when you separated yourselves from others in 
 order to acquire for yourselves what was meant 
 for the benefit of the whole world. 
 
 The beginning of all your mistakes is in the 
 self of the senses taking the place of the one Self 
 of us all. Separation is your most deadly foe. 
 You must fight your battle with this false self 
 and allow all-pervading love to spread the wings 
 of peace in your own individual lives now. 
 Thank God that you are getting good from this 
 war. It has already opened your eyes and will 
 ultimately set the nations free from self-seeking. 
 If you look around, you may now see how much 
 you have to do. Do your part, and send out love, 
 
THE DAEKNESS 73 
 
 love, love. It is to your own real benefit to let 
 your neighbour get his need satisfied first. Give 
 to the world in every way until it becomes your 
 joy to give and to love. True wealth is within, 
 it is not an accumulation of goods. God is going 
 to use this war for your regeneration and national 
 salvation. 
 
 " Thou shalt not kill " is still the divine com- 
 mand as it ever was. Look deeper ; have you not 
 been killing your brother for a long time past? 
 How many have left your plane with only half 
 the experience they came to get, killed by capital- 
 ism, lust, starvation? This is murder, I tell you ; 
 the men slain on the fields of battle die clean 
 deaths in comparison ; they leave the body with- 
 out hurt to the soul. The world kills by thoughts 
 of hate and envy which strike the soul and hinder 
 evolution. " Be not afraid of them which kill 
 the body but are not able to kill the soul." Take 
 care of the feeblest, the lowliest in your midst. 
 
 These brave, unselfish men who go out to fight 
 your battles are merely tools sent by the nation ; 
 the results will not attach to them unless they 
 carry hatred and revenge into their work. Thou- 
 
74 SPIRITUAL EECONSTEUCTION 
 
 sands on both sides are working against their 
 will ; these are the truly brave, and they will re- 
 ceive compensation in higher realms. Their 
 hands are clean, the guilt is not theirs. You 
 are going to bring in the new kingdom from this 
 time on, to re-establish it on true foundations 
 working in the heart through individual lives. 
 The time is ripe for reconstruction. We reap 
 what we sow, but let us rid ourselves of this old 
 and ever-present race-consciousness. Some fine 
 souls have come to us here who saw all we see 
 and yet fought, because like the surgeon they 
 wished to help, by drastic means, to rid the earth 
 of greed and hate. Already there is greater free- 
 dom; we are much nearer. Souls are looking 
 more and more to the spirit within, and even igno- 
 rant souls are stirred. This is a great awaken- 
 ing, and God is manifesting through humanity, 
 as never before, in selfless love. You are making 
 material which can never be unmade throughout 
 all time. You will need great humility and much 
 self -cleansing ; but we rejoice to see so many 
 hearts stirred, so much purified desire. We 
 strengthen your hands and uphold you in spirit, 
 
THE DAEKNESS 75 
 
 for we know that the soul of life is about to mani- 
 fest in this new birth. The present phase is the 
 darkness that precedes the dawn. The race is 
 young, and the earth's soul is like a child unborn. 
 The time is at hand for its freedom and true exist- 
 ence, once the shackles of darkness and depend- 
 ence have been removed. One experience awaits 
 the race — birth-pang; but with the knowledge 
 of the great freedom so near we can be strong 
 and of good courage, for the last pains of igno- 
 rance and limitation are close at hand. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 DYING TO LIVE 
 
 While man is living here, walking these common streets, 
 living In elosest Intercourse with other men, he is already 
 in the everlasting Presence, and his Heaven has begun. 
 
 Phillips Brooks 
 
 THE dissolution of the husk liberates the 
 true life. The nation which abides 
 alone, making no sacrifice, bears no fruit. 
 Nations die to live again in greater purity and 
 strength. To die to live is an eternal spiritual 
 law. There is no such thing as annihilation. 
 Life is triumphant everywhere, there is joy in 
 the deepest depths. Nevertheless, says St. Paul, 
 I die daily. We offer ourselves that the greater 
 Self may be glorified, that His Name and Nature 
 may be expressed in us, that we too may hear the 
 inner voice : " I have both glorified it and will 
 glorify it again." Great Britain has been chosen 
 to liberate true life by the way of sacrifice. After 
 
 76 
 
DYING TO LIVE 77 
 
 the crucifixion there was darkness and earth- 
 quake ; and so it will be that, after the crucifixion 
 of the nation, the darkness will come as has been 
 typified, but your sacrifice will rend the veil of 
 materialism between humanity and God. Now 
 may we draw near and receive the Chrism. 
 Sacrifice, our ever-new and living way of at-one- 
 ment with all life, is our purification; it will 
 bring about the uplifting of all. 
 
 The Son of Man is lifted to the cross that He 
 may draw all men to God. To say, " If a man has 
 died for his country he has given his life as Jesus 
 did," is to confuse values. It would take the 
 death of the whole world to be equal in spiritual 
 value to the crucifixion of Jesus, because His love 
 was utterly selfless. It embraced the whole of 
 humanity so absolutely that He alone could make 
 the supreme sacrifice which no man could do who 
 had not attained to pure Being. The greater our 
 love, the greater the value of our sacrifice. Your 
 sons, brothers and husbands, women and even 
 children, who have come to us during this time 
 of war have already tasted of the deep joy which 
 no man can ever take away. Do not sorrow for 
 
78 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUCTION 
 
 them, then will you know something of their 
 happiness. 
 
 We are close to you: heaven is interpenetrat- 
 ing your very state of existence. If your eyes 
 were open you could see those millions of angelic 
 beings walking in and out amongst you, beautiful 
 and radiant. We have such an intense vital life 
 that your world appears almost like a dream 
 world. Soon you will be able to communicate 
 with us more easily, as the veil of fear is lifted. 
 Our children here often play with your children ; 
 animals see us constantly. Alas, that the soul 
 gets so covered by materialism and the mind 
 clouded by the self of the senses! The day is 
 drawing near when the two worlds shall be one. 
 Let us help you to lay bare within yourselves the 
 perceptive faculties of the soul. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE WINGS OF THE SOUL 
 
 We have all of us free access to all that is great and good 
 and happy, and carry within ourselves the key to all the 
 treasures that heaven has to bestow upon us. 
 
 William Law 
 
 SIMPLICITY is attained only through wis- 
 dom. It is not easy to become as little chil- 
 dren, for they have the memory of the 
 perfect life, and the environment of the holy 
 spheres is still with them. With the eyes of the 
 soul they perceive the spiritual world ; their ears 
 are open to the heavenly voices. Without know- 
 ing it, they apprehend the divine meanings of life, 
 and with their pure faith and single eye they 
 dwell in the kingdom of heaven. The descent of 
 the soul into material conditions is very gradual. 
 Although this golden thread of holy memory 
 gleams and glistens through all life's experiences, 
 yet do we reach out after the fruit of the tree of 
 
 79 
 
80 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 knowledge on the plane of the senses, and so fall 
 from our high estate, the heavenly consciousness. 
 We are all fallen angels in the earlier period of 
 our lives, but we regain angelhood by reascension 
 through every degree of partial blindness on to 
 clear-seeing. In those early days of childhood 
 we were beyond good and evil; we were expres- 
 sions of life without knowledge, we dwelt in per- 
 fect purity of soul. 
 
 We may strengthen that golden thread of 
 memory and bring once more around us the com- 
 pany of heaven. Your souls may now be raised 
 on wings of simplicity and purity; they may 
 leave the sense world with its dark dreams and 
 illusions. What you consider old age is really a 
 time when you recapture those spiritual values 
 and attain to the wisdom of the second childhood, 
 given to mortals to prepare them for re-entrance 
 into the eternally holy spheres. These ripe souls 
 are purified by simplicity and become heavenly. 
 The two wings of the soul make it unconquerable. 
 
 Become universal in your love and interests, 
 looking upon all men as your father, mother, 
 lover and child, seeing all relationships in God 
 
THE WINGS OF THE SOUL 81 
 
 and not making a wall about yourselves or your 
 thoughts. Do not remain long in one place but 
 make all places your own. This is true sim- 
 plicity : to love all in the One and to see only the 
 One in the all; to have one home, one abiding 
 place in God. Get rid of earthly responsibility 
 at every turn and do not acquire goods. Be free 
 from chains that bind and fetter the spirit, be 
 simple in your creed, know only that God is love 
 and that Christ, the eternal Son, is sent forth into 
 humanity. The whole meaning of life is to ex- 
 press God. Be simple in your homes, taking no 
 anxious thought. Let the wing of simplicity be 
 outspread, without anything to impede it. Pu- 
 rity, the right wing of the soul, depends on sim- 
 plicity; together lifting the soul, they give her 
 swiftness of flight and lofty vision whereby she 
 may carry " light unto them that sit in darkness 
 and in the shadow of death, guiding their feet 
 into the way of peace." The clear light of the 
 heavenly radiance, the ecstasy of the spirit, be- 
 longs to the pure in heart. " Let us work to- 
 gether for the purification of your earth." " Be 
 ye holy, for I am holy." Be pure in thought this 
 
82 SPIEITUAL EECONSTEUCTION 
 
 day, live simply, and tomorrow your wings will 
 stir to lift you out of the miry clay of the senses. 
 Behold, I too show you a mystery — when you 
 attain to the wisdom of purity and simplicity, in 
 the twinkling of an eye we are one. You have 
 broken down the wall of sense and stand in the 
 ETERNAL places for the world's good, seeing the 
 invisible, the mighty in strength. I have no lan- 
 guage to tell you of all that awaits the pure in 
 heart. You will see God in the eyes of a little 
 child, in the street, in men and women walking 
 life's highway, in every movement of life, in birds, 
 in trees and flowers, in sky, wind and storm. 
 You will see God, radiant and holy, walking with 
 you, perceiving in the lowliest, the poorest, the 
 most soiled of earth's creatures, the angel of joy. 
 See how this fits you for your present work on the 
 earth's plane, for you have great need of hope 
 and faith when you go into the depths. 
 
 That only which we have within can we see without. If 
 we meet no gods it is because we harbour none. If there 
 is grandeur in you, you will find grandeur in porters and 
 sweeps. He only is rightly immortal to whom all things 
 are immortal. 
 
 Emerson 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 IN THE REAL WORLD 
 
 I tell you we are fooled by the eye, the ear ; 
 These organs muffle us from that real world that lies about 
 us. 
 
 THE great difference between us and the 
 mystics of old is that we urge upon you 
 vitality, activity from the spiritual 
 plane, not activity from the urge of the outer. 
 This has been the great error in the past, follow- 
 ing in the steps of Jesus but not realizing the 
 Christ within, which He came to reveal. When 
 you yet a fresh glimpse of truth, express it, live 
 it, be it, and you will become free and strong. 
 Like the mystics, you must go within the Door 
 to find pasture, but you must also come out and 
 enrich others. 
 
 Do not rest until you have made a difference in 
 yourself and your environment because of what 
 you have inwardly perceived. All truths must 
 
 83 
 
84 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUOTION 
 
 be lived; in the doing we discover the power to 
 do more. Our work here is creative ; you are now 
 working out a divine plan just where you are, and 
 no one else can do you work. " Be thou faithful 
 in that which is least." Those of you whose eyes 
 are opened, who perceive the special needs of the 
 day, have come to serve and help the countries 
 in their great need. Rejoice that such a grand 
 opportunity is at your doors. Rise, and in the 
 power of your indwelling Lord you will re-create 
 from the centre, bring to birth that divine seed, 
 perfection, struggling for expression in the soul 
 of the Universe. Call faith to your aid and do 
 not be dismayed at illusion or appearance. 
 
 What if YOU are the one chosen, sent out from 
 God to make the crooked straight and the rough 
 places plain? Take your first step in your im- 
 mediate surroundings and you will be led out and 
 on. You may trust the divine guidance in every 
 detail of your life. Great is the urge of the spirit 
 to reconstruct your earth ; we reach out to serve 
 you that God may be realized in all life. God 
 grant our words may come to you with power. 
 We know that our pure desire and love for you 
 
IN THE EEAL WOELD 85 
 
 shine forth like a bright light. Do let us be in 
 earnest about this real warfare between light and 
 darkness. Look into God's face before you face 
 the world : be much in prayer and give some part 
 of your day to quiet and to a realization of all 
 the resources at your disposal. 
 
 We see from this side that there is a great 
 work for woman and that she will be the new 
 manifestation of God, until the two are one, when 
 there shall be neither marrying nor giving in 
 marriage. In quietness you will enter into this 
 glorious union with God, until you know in your 
 hearts that God is the only life, and fills all space. 
 Your consciousness of this will dispel ignorance 
 and darkness. The power to perceive these 
 truths is under the control of your will and your 
 desire. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 INDIA 
 
 The narrow-minded ask, Is this one of our tribe, or is he 
 a stranger? But to those who are of noble disposition the 
 whole world is but one family. 
 
 Justice is so dear to the heart of nature, that if In the 
 last day one atom of injustice were found, the universe 
 would shrivel like a serpent's skin to cast it ofC for ever. 
 
 HindM Scriptures 
 
 OUESTION.— Will this war end war? 
 ANSWER.— No, it will only weary 
 the nations for a time. This is why we 
 who see the real causes, the roots where the 
 trouble begins, come with these messages to your 
 plane. You may not be aware of it, but in your 
 own immediate circle, unless you love your neigh- 
 bour as yourself, you are sowing the seed for 
 war on a much larger scale. Only love can kill 
 war. At present as we look on the higher mental 
 planes we see dense clouds over China gathering 
 in weight, but not active. This means that the 
 
 86 
 
INDIA 87 
 
 war spirit is collecting force in the minds of the 
 people. It is not ready for expression and could 
 be broken, but it is there. 
 
 It is far more serious when we look over India. 
 The generals and seers on this side are amazed 
 at your blindness, your evident lack of gratitude 
 to the men of that country who have helped and 
 are even now helping you in your hour of need. 
 The mental cloud over India is dark, full of 
 movement and emitting flame at times. This is 
 how we perceive mental states. It is good to re- 
 member that, however turbulent these storms may 
 be, there is a higher height, a deeper depth, a 
 transcendent thought, and a centre of perfect 
 poise to which all may attain and there dissolve 
 these false conditions. These people — panther 
 like — are watching your rulers. You have made 
 great mistakes, and have actually hindered the 
 evolution of that wonderful Empire. Whenever 
 this happens, higher powers intervene, and the 
 British rule will either end or give place to those 
 who will show wisdom and equality. The peoples 
 of India will be best helped at this juncture by 
 their own rulers. In many ways British rule has 
 
88 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 been protective in tlie past. It is now largely re- 
 pressive. The people need more of Wisdom and 
 Love. He who dares despise another race is him- 
 self despised. It is not too late to undo the errors 
 of the past, to give power to those who under- 
 stand the true conditions. 
 
 Begin by showing your gratitude, your appre- 
 ciation of their generous help. There are splen- 
 did men and women in India now — your own 
 people — who see much of this, and would gladly 
 give their lives to save the situation and help 
 India. Listen to these people and to us, who 
 see cause and effect, that you may rise to your re- 
 sponsibilities. The East has much to teach the 
 West. Take measures now, otherwise you will 
 have to face more pain and sorrow. So much lies 
 with yourselves, if you only knew. Speak of 
 India with love and gratitude ; she will feel this 
 sooner than you imagine. Change the vibrations 
 towards India, otherwise you will be too late. 
 
 " Great Britain is just, but slow to see and 
 to act" (Bertha). 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 JOY AND SATISFACTION 
 
 Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and 
 wisdom which flows into you as life, place yourself in the 
 full centre of that flood, then you are without effort im- 
 pelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment. 
 
 Emerson 
 
 WHEN the soul obeys the voice of the 
 senses, the vision is clouded and the 
 mind begins to bewilder the body with 
 sensations of fear and doubt — the origin of 
 disease. Come into the pure realm of spirit, 
 where there are not two voices but one only, the 
 good, the all perfect. From this secret place you 
 will perceive the good of the earth experience, 
 its creative purposes for an ever fresh manifesta- 
 tion of God. Come out of the old race conscious- 
 ness into the new, leaving the imitations in favour 
 of the real and the true. " Lift up your heads, 
 oh ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors 
 (the soul), and the King of glory shall come in " 
 
 89 
 
90 SPIRITUAL EEOONSTEUCTION 
 
 . . . strong and mighty, cleansing the body of its 
 mental illusions through the purity and sim- 
 plicity of the soul, in order to work out amid the 
 present darkness and warfare the reconstruction 
 of your life. 
 
 How can a soul become great unless it be lowly, 
 or a man become strong unless he be meek? 
 " Learn of Me." Then will you appreciate the 
 pure glory of the natural world, you will find 
 new meanings in morning skies and star-filled 
 nights, revelation in all the incidents of your day, 
 unexpected joys to greet you, and one day in the 
 hedges by the wayside you wUl see the burning 
 bush, the undying flame, you will hear the great 
 I AM. As you hold this little book in your hand, 
 I tell you that you are endowed with riches un- 
 told : the infinite heart at one with you ; in your 
 soul the resource for every need. The whole uni- 
 verse is with the soul that follows the spirit's 
 guidance. You do not lack any good thing ; even 
 now you are at one with the source and centre of 
 all. 
 
 Joy in the depths of your being constitutes 
 your real strength. In the midst of sorrow, yet 
 
JOY AND SATISFACTION 91 
 
 always rejoicing, the soul soars above the clouds 
 of time and sense into the purity and peace of 
 light and life eternal. This joy reveals itself in 
 your speech and actions; you are spreading the 
 light by your own realization of it. Your soul 
 sings the Magnificat, the great mystic poem, the 
 song of the soul in holiest communion with the 
 Godhead. 
 
 The message of Heaven to earth is eternally 
 the same, " Good tidings of great joy." Jesus 
 said, " My joy is fulfilled," an expression of com- 
 plete satisfaction. He said it in the face of 
 crucifixion, with every appearance of failure be- 
 fore Him, because He knew that deep beneath the 
 illusions of the senses were well-springs of spirit- 
 ual power and hidden joy. By His self-giving 
 He would liberate this joy for others. Death had 
 no meaning to Him, the doors were opening for 
 higher service, wider spheres, the power to give 
 vitally, perpetually, in all the richness and ful- 
 ness of the Godhead. " I will come again . . . 
 that where I am there ye may be also." In these 
 days you are passing through the valley of 
 shadows. God is using this period for the ac- 
 
92 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 complishment of His divine plans, breaking up 
 old worn-out creeds, false conditions of an over- 
 civilization, and bringing you back to the high 
 levels of truth and righteousness. 
 
 Give me, O God, to sing that thought ; 
 Give me, give him or her I love this quenchless faith 
 In Thy ensemble; whatever else withheld, withhold not 
 
 from us 
 Belief in plan of Thee enclosed in Time and Space, 
 Health, peace, salvation universal. 
 
 Walt Whitman 
 
GHAPTEE XXIII 
 
 THE POWEE OF HOPE 
 
 The future is lighted for us with the radiant colours of 
 Hope; strife and sorrow shall disappear. Peace and love 
 shall reign supreme. The dream of poets, the lesson of 
 priest and prophet, the Inspiration of the great musician is 
 confirmed in the light of modem knowledge ; and as we gird 
 ourselves up for the work of life we may look forward to 
 the time when, in the truest sense, the kingdom of this 
 world shall become the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 Piske 
 
 HOPE thou in God." These are words of 
 might and power, revealing to the Ini- 
 tiate the great force conveyed in their 
 utterance. To say these words in the silence of 
 meditation for others or for yourself is the be- 
 ginning of healing. The soul at once recognizes 
 the voice of the Master. When rightly appre- 
 hended, all the illusions of the senses drop away 
 at this command of the spirit and the true pur- 
 pose of life unfolds. To the physically weak and 
 disabled it is like the breath of heaven, and brings 
 to birth the recognition of the divine forces at 
 
 93 
 
94 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 their disposal. "Hope thou" is an individual 
 work, and you perceive the divine meaning to 
 bring into operation those powers of the soul 
 which already sees the anchor within the veil. 
 Hope is the first step towards attainment, is in 
 fact the beginning of fulfilment. 
 
 Get into even a momentary consciousness of 
 God and of hope. In that instant you open doors 
 which can never again be closed. There are 
 words and sentences of power in your Bible, 
 which, even though but dimly understood, will 
 help you to get back to the spiritual Idea for your- 
 selves and your Country. If in meditation you 
 send forth the words of the Spirit, others will 
 realize the meaning, and manifest the Idea in a 
 much wider and fuller sense than seemed possible 
 to you. 
 
 These sentences of power are ever revealing 
 fresh truth and beauty as you hold them in 
 thought. In time, they will become to you 
 mighty words spoken from within. " Hope thou 
 in God," " Have the faith of God," " I am come 
 down to deliver," "The Angel of His presence 
 
THE POWEE OF HOPE 95 
 
 saved them." They have been delivered, saved 
 from the bondage of materialism. 
 
 You may help and be helped, by holding in your 
 thoughts these sentences, because, all the time, 
 within you is the Knower of all things known 
 Who will bring all things to your remembrance 
 when the need arises, even though you cannot now 
 perceive the full power and meaning of these 
 life-giving sentences. 
 
 Had you allowed — as did your brothers — the 
 false self to be supreme, your chances of victory 
 and peace would have been infinitesimal. They 
 had reached the heights of human wisdom on the 
 plane of the senses and are much wiser than you 
 in the art of warfare, but higher forces have inter- 
 vened for you. Ultimately defeat will mean 
 salvation for them also. The false self has 
 separated them from the whole: they will suffer 
 the effects in isolation. We reap what we sow. 
 A great and deep love can draw them into the 
 world family again. Multitudes have helped you 
 on the fields of battle, hosts unseen, though wield- 
 ing powers that belong to the spiritual plane. 
 
96 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUGTION 
 
 " I AM come down to deliver, to sift the wheat 
 from the chaff out of all nations on the face of the 
 earth." I tell you this that you may see the rea- 
 son of your hope. For your country you may be 
 strong in hope, but — " Hope thou in God." 
 
 A most important element in this reconstruc- 
 tion is to be strong in hope for the children in 
 your midst, to surround them with an atmosphere 
 of expectancy of the brighter dawn, the glad to- 
 morrow. We are continually saved by hope, all 
 of us, but the children mean so much for the 
 future of your earth, and just now they are fresh 
 and pure, with their ideals unsullied, that they 
 may bring to birth the heavenly ideas dormant in 
 the soul. They are magnificent material for crea- 
 tiveness. We see that the child soul is now ready 
 for the writing of God's word on the heart from 
 within. Hope supplies the fostering atmosphere. 
 It quickens the divine seed and promotes healthy 
 growth of ideas where otherwise tares might 
 spring up. Set yourselves as parents and teach- 
 ers to be full of holy optimism and the good cheer 
 of Christ. Be buoyant in spite of the heaviness 
 of this passing phase, and in this way you will 
 
THE POWER OF HOPE 97 
 
 make such a strong atmosphere that the spiritual 
 forces will everywhere be quickened and strength- 
 ened. You cannot overestimate the power of 
 happiness. " Hope thou in God " — and by the 
 strength of Hope you will leap over the walls of 
 great difficulties. 
 
 Hope brings the whole mental and spiritual 
 atmosphere into a divine condition of expect- 
 ancy. This constitutes the preparation for the 
 coming One, the steps to the altar fires. " Hope 
 thou in God," and hope shall become realization. 
 Use the vital forces and powers of the Christ 
 principle, and you will revitalize Christianity 
 by getting back to its true revelation. Says 
 Jesus, "Ask what ye will." We want you to 
 benefit by our experience, and use the God pow- 
 ers now in your souls. You were never meant 
 to be ignorant so long, in bondage to the world of 
 the senses. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 FAITH AND ITS RELATION TO THOUGHT 
 
 Thoughts are the angels which we send abroad, 
 
 To visit all the parts of God's abode. 
 
 All wisdom in a thought doth shine, 
 
 By thoughts alone the soul is made divine. 
 
 Thoughts are the springs of all our actions here 
 
 On earth, tho' they themselves do not appear ; 
 
 They are the springs of beauty, order, peace. 
 
 Thomas Traherne 
 
 THE plane of the senses is largely a plane 
 of reflections. The spiritual world is 
 the world of cause, and your plane re- 
 ceives reflections and sometimes substantial 
 manifestations in spiritual values. Every inci- 
 dent of your life actually happens here first. We 
 have the pure image of everything that is. As 
 thought is the origin, the real, it is first expressed 
 through its creative medium on the spiritual 
 plane. This is why almost the first thing people 
 say when they come here is : " Why, this is just 
 like home, only so much more real." They 
 
 98 
 
FAITH 99 
 
 quickly perceive that they have left the dream 
 world for the real, the reflection for the actual. 
 In this perception they know that death is an im- 
 possibility and that its shadow is for ever a thing 
 of the past. If you consider for a moment the 
 truth and beauty of this message, it will bring 
 you the greatest comfort. 
 
 Theeb is no strangeness in heaven; you do 
 not change your habits and customs until you 
 change your thought. All activity is the outward 
 expression of your thought: all you are, all you 
 possess is really what you have created for your- 
 selves out of the thought world. There is no 
 mystery about the heavenly state. It is a con- 
 sciousness of God, and unless you have attained 
 fully, you will find that the change from earth to 
 heaven will not suddenly bring this about. You 
 will enjoy the exact consciousness which you have 
 created for yourself or the one in process of 
 creation by your daily thinking. 
 
 Your Christ consciousness is the preparer of 
 the mansions in the eternal. " Eye hath not seen, 
 ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into 
 the heart of man, those things which God hath 
 
100 SPIEITUAL EECONSTRUOTION 
 
 prepared for those that love Him." This is a 
 simple statement of fact. Often in the past, you 
 have given love, you have striven to attain the 
 highest. You have opened Heaven's doors. 
 Every unselfish thought means for you treasure 
 in Heaven. You may have forgotten these, but 
 you will meet them again, refined and purified. 
 The Vision may have become dim for the moment, 
 but your own good thoughts and nobler ideals of 
 the past are yours for ever. Your highest 
 thoughts and rich imaginations, all the hopes and 
 divine longings of the soul, are stored up for you 
 and will bear fruit. Some of you have laid up 
 rich treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor 
 rust doth corrupt nor thieves break through and 
 steal. God's desire is that you enter into your 
 true wealth now, and so bring heaven to earth by 
 inner realization, not live in fragmentary expres- 
 sions, as if this were the whole. 
 
 The whole of your thought has never been ex- 
 pressed because of your lack of faith in the 
 spiritual and the unseen, but it exists on the 
 spiritual plane and is yours for ever. You can- 
 not think without result, every thought is 
 
FAITH 101 
 
 creative, good or ignorant; but you have missed a 
 great measure of joy on earth, where your thought 
 would have found expression had you so willed. 
 Here you have left behind the semblance, the re- 
 flection and all the illusions of the sense plane, 
 and have replaced them by pure existence. Your 
 real wealth consists in what you have stored 
 here. Have you not heard good people say, " I 
 am poor in this world's goods, nevertheless I feel 
 rich " ? They have glimpsed, as it were, into 
 their own spiritual storehouses. As poor yet 
 making many rich, is a glorious possibility for 
 you all, by revealing the things of the spirit and 
 helping souls to faith in the good. There is no 
 gulf between man and God, earth and heaven. 
 There is no mystery or vagueness in these mat- 
 ters. Your inheritance is substantial and 
 eternal. You may enjoy much of it here and 
 now. 
 
 Bring Heaven to earth : consciousness is being ; 
 thought, the creative sphere. All that will re- 
 main in the days to come Avill be the spiritual 
 elements. This is what is meant by the end of 
 the material world, but it is constructive, and 
 
102 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUOTION 
 
 not, as you have been taught to think, destructive. 
 It means that all the illusory sense world will be 
 melted by the fire of love and truth. The veil 
 will be lifted, and men will see only that which 
 truly exists — God. 
 
CHAPTEE XXV 
 
 FAITH AND ITS RELATION TO THOUGHT — continued 
 
 We build our ideals and they in turn build us. 
 
 Le Conte 
 
 YOU have had for many years men and 
 women with glorious ideals, full of 
 Christly love and enthusiasm for your 
 earth. They have seen a world purified and a 
 people living in truth and righteousness. Every 
 good thinker and teacher has added strength and 
 beauty to this new earth. It already exists in 
 the spiritual realm and this spiritual world inter- 
 penetrates yours. The time has come for mani- 
 festation of the idea, to bring to actual outer evi- 
 dence the city not made with hands. Before you 
 reconstruct, you should look to what you have 
 inherited of all the good and true, and realize 
 that which you have already imaged forth. 
 Thousands of Chrlstlike men and women with 
 
 103 
 
104 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUOTION 
 
 vision and spiritual power have helped to create 
 this heavenly country for you in the Christ con- 
 sciousness, but the world needs realization, evi- 
 dence of truth. There must be expression, actual 
 manifestation of the spiritual, here and now. 
 This is possible, all things are possible, if you 
 rightly use faith. " Have the faith of God." You 
 are a divine necessity, for this wonderful work 
 begins with the individual. Act as if the thought 
 world really existed on this earth, the Christ idea 
 in outward actuality, for you at all events. This 
 is faith in perfection. See your homes, simple, 
 pure and beautiful. Let your conversation be 
 constructive and your thoughts creative, with a 
 deep undercurrent of joy. This is what is meant 
 by " pray without ceasing " and " having your 
 conversation in heaven." 
 
 Soon your home will have a changed atmos- 
 phere and actual transmutations will begin. The 
 strong spiritual forces will pierce through the 
 illusions of the senses and find openings in un- 
 expected mental spheres. Have the faith of God 
 on behalf of those about you. When you think 
 of your neighbour, see in him and all his affairs 
 
FAITH 105 
 
 order and beauty and be blind to all else. Press 
 on day by day, strong in faith. This is express- 
 ing thought and bringing the image-making 
 faculty into outer existence. " Faith is the sub- 
 stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
 not seen." Let every house and building be a 
 meeting place for those who love God. Never 
 mind the failings of life. Give your best to your 
 world and see in all you meet the ideal people of 
 your thought. 
 
 For you, error and ignorance have no existence 
 except as material to use for fresh expressions of 
 God. Have only the single eye ; never mind how 
 appearances baffle or bewilder, press on. Believe 
 in your fellow-man, love much, soon you will 
 have quite a new standard of values. The first 
 things will be first, the kingdom of Christ your 
 paramount idea, and love the propelling force. 
 Thus your Godlike faith will bring into outer 
 actuality the vision of the mount, the true, the 
 real. There is with you a power greater than 
 your own will and desire, a transcendent force 
 going before, making the crooked straight and 
 the rough places plain. Believe that you live and 
 
106 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 move and have your being in God, and God will 
 become manifest through you. 
 
 This war has set in motion spiritual forces un- 
 dreamed of. People are more receptive, they will 
 understand your message, and love will not be re- 
 pulsed. Sorrow has opened doors for friendli- 
 ness and comradeship. The time is ripe for the 
 new consciousness of God. The ends of the earth 
 have met. Faith will pierce the clouds of illu- 
 sion and reveal the kingdom of light in your 
 midst. If two or three together lived this life of 
 pure faith, they would quickly become a centre 
 for the unseen workers and the work would 
 spread far and wide. You have not been posi- 
 tive, fear has kept you from self-realization. 
 Many healers will come forth, and laws of nature 
 will be understood as soon as man is at the centre 
 of life and takes his true place, with Christ in the 
 heart, the living principle, to work out the mani- 
 festation, the revelation of Christ, not hiding the 
 light of the world, but making way for the life 
 principle, for the regeneration of others and the 
 realization of that which exists. 
 
 Look through evil and see good; even hate is 
 
FAITH 107 
 
 love perverted and can be brought back to its 
 channel. Be calm, serene, positive; behind every 
 appearance of calamity there is good, and by your 
 faith you will bring it into evidence. Just where 
 you are as you read these words you may, by a 
 breath, be at one with the holiest and the highest, 
 you may receive the illumiUation of the spii'it. 
 There is a value in consecrated buildings; still, 
 God is at hand all the time and in all places. 
 Go out today in the strength of this intimacy 
 with holy forces, and you will realize the new 
 Earth, now prepared for manifestation. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE NATIONS SHALL WALK IN THE LIGHT OF IT 
 
 Have the religions of mankind no common ground? Is 
 there not everywhere the same enrapturing beauty, beaming 
 forth from many hidden places? Broad Indeed Is the ear- 
 pet which God has spread, and beautiful the colours He has 
 given it. There is but one lamp in this house. In the rays 
 of which, wherever I look, a bright assembly meets me. 
 
 The paths to God are more In number than the breathings 
 of created beings. 
 
 Persian Scriptures 
 
 EACH one of you has his or her own mes- 
 sage to give to the world from the spirit. 
 It must be given in your own way and by 
 your own particular methods. The diamond has 
 many facets, each with its glory of light and col- 
 our, making the whole appear more beautiful. 
 You are not meant to give the message of some 
 one else, however good and beautiful it may be. 
 Eeveal the light within, be your self, and speak 
 your own word. It is meant that there should be 
 endless variety in the things of the spirit as the 
 
 108 
 
IN THE LIGHT OF IT 109 
 
 nature world reveals them. " Oh magnify the 
 Lord with me and let us exalt His Name to- 
 gether" by each producing the individual note 
 and colour, so that Christ may be magnified in 
 me. 
 
 You will find if you speak the true word that 
 however diverse the messages, there is one root 
 idea to them all, one word only. If you can give 
 your message in painting, put your highest 
 thought, your noblest ideas into your work and 
 God will speak through your picture. If you 
 sing, let your heart overflow with love and God's 
 voice will be heard in your song. Let your love 
 flow out to the loveless and the desolate, to the 
 suffering dumb creatures in your midst. Care 
 for children who are neglected and in want, and 
 you will hear a voice saying : " Inasmuch as ye 
 have done it unto one of the least of these My 
 brethren, ye have done it unto Me." 
 
 Do not try to copy another; unity is not uni- 
 formity: this is a perversion. Endless variety 
 is God's method. The work that you can put 
 your heart into is the work God gives you and 
 no other. There is no separation in any sense 
 
110 SPIEITUAL EEOONSTRUCTION 
 
 from God. What you are urged to express is 
 from the centre of us all. Your work may be in 
 the silence, the life of prayer, only be faithful and 
 do the thing that is making itself plain to you. 
 As this is true for individuals, it is also true for 
 states and nations. No country should coerce 
 or legislate for another state or people without 
 this other's understanding and co-operation. 
 Each has its own National Soul and should have 
 perfect freedom to express God in its own way. 
 We are all meant to bring to the outer planes 
 a perfect form and representation of the divine 
 idea. These varieties go to make a perfect whole, 
 within and without. The true unity of nations 
 is to be at heart and soul with one another for 
 the good of each and all, and at the same time to 
 be free to express the national soul along right 
 paths. This unity of races has a very beautiful 
 effect on the spiritual plane. 
 
 I was over a hospital near the French lines 
 and I heard strong and sweet music and saw a 
 beautiful form, like two large wings outspread, 
 full of exquisite harmony of colouring. As these 
 rose and fell with soft vibrations, waves of rose- 
 
IN THE LIGHT OF IT 111 
 
 coloured ether spread in circles and rushed out 
 to strengthen the souls of the nations represented, 
 within the building. Later, I saw German and 
 French wounded with Irish, Scotch, Colonials, 
 English and one solitary Indian : these were all 
 lovingly cared for by French and English doc- 
 tors and nurses. Love, the great unifier, was the 
 worker and creator of this almost perfect com- 
 bination of sound, form and colour. I cannot 
 express in earth language the glory of it to us 
 here, and what a rich revelation of God was 
 made manifest. In the midst of pain the sym- 
 pathy and love brought the hearts of all into 
 closest union. This glory is theirs for ever, there 
 is no lost good. 
 
 We have seen on the battle-field gardens of 
 beauty over the scarred earth, flower thoughts 
 and emblems from all over the world. The pure 
 white virgin lily, the flowers from dear home 
 gardens of Germany, side by side with roses of 
 England, thistles and the delicate shamrock. 
 Finally we see streams of energy set free by 
 prayer for the departed, on behalf of those who 
 have left the body. How they thank you, for this 
 
112 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 is the sure way of thinning the veils between you 
 and your loved ones. All nations meet on these 
 same battle-fields where God is working out the 
 regeneration of Europe. In the midst of all, is 
 that purest white from which all colour, note 
 and form is derived; and as the life is poured out 
 in rich streams, the souls long separated by time 
 and by ignorance meet once more. Within the 
 veil the atmosphere of purity and peace throbs 
 with holy joy. There are homes re-established 
 here, the lost are found, the pain of long silence 
 is broken for many. From here the ministering 
 ones go forth to teach and comfort the poor and 
 the sad. Centres of healing at one with the river 
 of life send out their streams of life-giving energy 
 to your fainting Earth. Look up, for the Lord 
 God omnipotent reigneth in you and through you 
 for ever. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE soul's freedom 
 
 He for whom there is neither this shore nor that shore 
 nor both ; he who is fearless and unshackled — him I call a 
 wise man ; he who has burst the bar and is awakened — ■ 
 him I call a wise man. 
 
 If anything is to be done let a man do it; let him at- 
 tack it vigorously. 
 
 Buddhist Scriptures 
 
 THE soul of the nation can never be free 
 until the individual soul is free. But 
 what does freedom mean to you? Un- 
 less it be real, the soul only exchanges one set of 
 fetters for another. No man can be self-reliant 
 and absolutely free, until he has realized the 
 one guiding principle of his life, and sees that Ms 
 place in the universe is God's place for him, and 
 that no man is master of his thoughts and actions. 
 This high self-reliance, however, does not mean a 
 want of meekness or obedience; it even imposes 
 on the soul great responsibilities. True freedom 
 
 113 
 
114 SPIRITUAL EEOONSTRUCTION 
 
 does not mean a sense of isolation from the 
 Whole, but power to liberate the God forces in 
 the individual soul. 
 
 Liberty and equality on the plane of the senses 
 have no real value. There will always be 
 spiritual kings and princes. The elect of every 
 nation call us continually to their high levels 
 only to lead us still on to loftier points of view 
 and richer, deeper experiences of life. All is 
 yours for ye are God's; only when you become 
 conscious of this, however, does your soul regain 
 the sense of possession. An appearance of equal- 
 ity and brotherhood will never be sustained un- 
 less souls are united in the effort to manifest 
 good: and just in proportion to the soul's grip 
 of the divine consciousness will the degree of 
 manifestation follow. The least in appearance 
 may have wisdom and power in the soul sufficient 
 to manifest as the greatest. The will and desire 
 have not been active, although they have ac- 
 quired experience through many states of con- 
 sciousness, or lives. To reach perfect freedom, 
 you must release the mind from all false and 
 artificial methods of thought and be yourself. 
 
THE SOUL'S FREEDOM 115 
 
 In your meditation enter into the recesses of the 
 soul and see what your possessions are. 
 
 What has life meant to you individually? 
 What are your plans regarding life? Are you 
 making any difference to the inner map of the 
 soul's journeyings? Are you making roads? 
 There are vast undiscovered continents in the 
 spiritual realm and in the realm of your soul; 
 there is no hindrance to the soul who dares take 
 God at His word. We call to you from our side 
 to go further, to come up higher. " Seek and ye 
 shall find." The soul, freed from bondage, 
 springs to the divine call; it dares not say nay 
 to the voice of the spirit. "Arise, shine, for thy 
 light has come, and the glory of the Lord has 
 risen upon thee. Get thee up into a high moun- 
 tain." The angels of God are round about you 
 now, the ministry of the unseen is adding spirit- 
 ual power to aid you. 
 
 We walk in and out among you to serve and 
 bless. Be true to xoukself and all the universe 
 will help you. The soul has longings and aspira- 
 tions, respond to these divine instincts. Do not 
 let this day pass until you have begun the work 
 
116 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUOTION 
 
 now making itself clear to you. You know 
 WHAT THAT WOEK IS. Have you written your 
 name in the book of life? Have you made any 
 difference to your day and generation? Speak 
 your own true word and the nations will be lifted. 
 Freedom is the divine right of the soul, you dare 
 not limit the Holy One by repressing the desire 
 to rise and be free. To know God and be free to 
 express God, is to enlarge the freedom of all. 
 There is deep joy in obedience to the divine call, 
 no matter where it leads. Leave all issues to 
 God who will make harmony out of seeming dis- 
 cord. This is the calm flow of the waters when 
 the brook overfloods its banks, it will find its 
 level at the right time. The disturbance was 
 good; it delivered the bedrock of the soul from 
 stagnation. Freedom is for the sons of God, and 
 only the free soul is joyous. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 evbk" (Ezek. xliii. 9) 
 
 And I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. 
 
 Ezekiel 
 I myself am a manifestation of the Supreme Being. 
 
 Hindu Scriptures 
 
 THE Master said : " The spirit of the 
 Lord God is upon Me because the Lord 
 hath sent Me to bind up the broken- 
 hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and 
 the opening of the prison to them that are bound. 
 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." 
 And He closed the book on the old consciousness 
 of vengeance for ever. Love henceforth was to 
 be the fulfilling of law. " But I say unto you, 
 love your enemies." 
 
 Every incident in the Life of Jesus is of im- 
 portance to the student in the deeper Christian 
 teaching. As soon as Jesus proclaimed the fact 
 that He stood for a new order, for a conscious- 
 
 117 
 
118 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUOTION 
 
 ness of love and not of vengeance, His very non- 
 resistance brought the whole populace about Him 
 in antagonism. So dangerous indeed had the 
 physical plane become to Him, that He used 
 higher laws to disappear from their midst. This 
 was in order that He might finish His work of 
 God manifestation, and later give Himself will- 
 ingly as a sacrifice for the highest good of all. 
 This will also be your way ; you too will find that, 
 in everyday life, to proclaim love is often to 
 antagonize. It is the clash of the two states of 
 consciousness: the old and the new. 
 
 Love seeks the silent hidden ways of life, the 
 deepest recesses of the human heart, that she may 
 strengthen heart, soul, mind and body from 
 within. Love is swift, potent, electric, strong to 
 deliver; yet, listen — "Learn of Me," says love, 
 " for I AM meek and lowly." If all souls on the 
 side of truth and righteousness were to send out a 
 steady stream of love embracing all the ends of 
 the earth, there would be no longer any separa- 
 tion, the only enemy of the race. "A kingdom 
 divided against itself cannot stand." Love will 
 finally conquer. This is where we want to see 
 
"IN THE MIDST OF THEM" 119 
 
 your fighting instinct : on the side of love, with 
 the sword of the spirit; invisible, but mightier 
 than the mightiest physical force. 
 
 You will certainly overcome your enemies with 
 love, for you will find yourself in them ; there will 
 be no power to fight against you. Love of purity 
 will be the great cleanser. Love will go down 
 into the depths, lifting out of darkness into light. 
 Love hopeth all things, believeth all things, never 
 faileth but will rise triumphant in your midst 
 and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord 
 through your life. " Continue ye in My love." 
 Build with this spiritual fabric, starting from 
 the centre of the universe and from yourselves. 
 
 Let go the small personal self and realize the 
 quest of all seekers : the great, the good, the noble. 
 From the centre this wondrous Life is ever setting 
 free captive souls, bursting bonds of limitation, 
 flowing ever outward to bless and to heal. Let 
 all your thoughts yield to this divine inner urge 
 and you will flow through all life with the love 
 that gives itself. In the giving you will become 
 an endless life. You may shine in the stars and 
 glisten in the dewdrop, dance in the child and love 
 
120 SPIRITUAL REGONSTRUeTION 
 
 in the youth. You will weep tears of healing 
 with those who weep and comfort those who 
 mourn. " Ye are dead and your life is hid with 
 Christ in God." 
 
 The time has come which was spoken of by 
 Isaiah : to loose the bands of wickedness and let 
 the oppressed go free; to break every yoke. 
 " Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, 
 aud thy healing shall spring forth speedily. The 
 Lord shall guide thee continually." 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 "in heavenly love abiding" 
 
 LOVE is the fulfilling of the law. 
 
 As far as the east is from the west so far hath He re- 
 moved our transgressions from us. 
 
 YOU will readily see that each soul is re- 
 ceived here under conditions, and with 
 the environment best suited to the exact 
 stage of unfoldment. Some are ready for high 
 spheres of service and quite understand how to 
 use the forces at their disposal. They have al- 
 ways lived in the spirit; they are joyful and at 
 home. Every soul, high or low, goes to its own 
 place. You are preparing your future state every 
 day and hour. When the soldiers arrive here 
 from the hospitals and battle-fields, they are 
 taken to what appear to them to be Homes of 
 Healing. All the surroundings are perfectly 
 familiar, as the inner consciousness is ever pro- 
 ducing the outer environment. The Higher Be- 
 
 121 
 
122 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 ings, in their wise love, meet just this need. They 
 are apparently in beds with loving nurses and 
 good doctors in attendance; there is music and 
 brightness about them, and many happy reunions 
 take place with old friends and comrades. The 
 entrance is made joyous and friendly for all. 
 They are not aware until much later that they 
 are in another state of existence. Those who 
 come to us as the result of shock and blindness, 
 have the keen joy of awakening, as if from sleep, 
 to sight and sound reason. It is beautiful be- 
 yond words to watch the relief and gratitude in 
 their faces as the horror of the past fades away 
 like an evil dream. The Helpers are able at once 
 to send the thoughts in a new direction. The 
 whole vibrations of the atmosphere tend to uplift 
 and refine, transmuting the dense clouds of sense 
 into light and order, so that, later, the experi- 
 ences and trials of earth may be seen as valuable 
 aids, not as obstacles or hindrances. 
 
 You can readily understand what this alone 
 means, to have the eyes opened and the under- 
 standing reawakened. It is the Divine in each 
 and all which eventually sets us free. 
 
" IN HEAVENLY LOVE ABIDING " 123 
 
 The heavenly Helper who appears as Chaplain, 
 Priest, or Pastor is always a Being with great 
 spiritual power, and he is able to convey the 
 exact help needed in each case. By his strong 
 spiritual power he reaches the inner conscious- 
 ness, and exfoliation begins. After this help the 
 man may shed the old false states of conscious- 
 ness and develop the latent soul forces. 
 
 This is the real essence and meaning of the 
 words used by the Psalmist, " The entrance of 
 Thy word giveth Light and Life." Afterwards, 
 when they recover from the effects caused by the 
 realization of their change of state, they are over- 
 joyed. . . . They slowly learn that they have not 
 lost any one dear to them, that death is the great 
 illusion of the senses. 
 
 I have heard them make many remarks of this 
 kind : " What rest," " What peace," " I never 
 felt so fit in my life." I have seen these men 
 later when they have understood something of the 
 change, and how I wish you could see the serene 
 expression of most of them. I heard one man 
 say to a comrade : " There must be some truth 
 in that old story about the waters of forgetful- 
 
124 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 ness, for ever since I had the first bathe in that 
 river I have been a different man. I seemed 
 literally to wash away all I wanted to forget. I 
 mean to go straight now." They very gradually 
 reach out for more light, and with every fresh 
 illumination the soul ascends into larger planes 
 of being. 
 
 As soon as they are ready they are granted 
 the inner unveiling, the real cleansing, and it 
 seems to them that they have washed away the 
 old self. This, however, is the real Self becom- 
 ing evident. They become free to develop in 
 every way. Some are delighted to find that they 
 have plenty of time to follow a line of life from 
 which they were diverted by the ignorance of par- 
 ents or friends, to be themselves at last. Here 
 are men at rest in heart and mind about the 
 future. They are aware only of the present, and 
 are sure of God. 
 
 We see a great many, alas, hindered and drawn 
 earthward by selfish grief or unwise love. These 
 cannot rise, they are weighted down by the tears 
 and sorrowing of those left behind. Though 
 knowing that all is well, they are unable to help 
 
" IN HEAVENLY LOVE ABIDING " 125 
 
 their loved ones to this knowledge. Set them 
 free, and later they will help you far more really 
 than if they were in the flesh. They are quite 
 near and see much of the home life. In the case 
 of others, the relationships of earth are ended 
 with the earth phase. As deep seeks deep, so 
 some souls are drawn to their own true spiritual 
 relationships by the circle of love which has ever 
 been about them, although invisible. 
 
 The soul awakens in perfect freedom on the 
 spiritual plane, and if you have used soul forces 
 on earth, they are your natural senses here. If 
 you have only dimly perceived with the eyes of 
 the soul, you will share with others in the work 
 of unfoldment. It is much better to find heaven 
 on earth and thus be ready for all that awaits 
 you on the plane of the spirit. I know by ex- 
 perience that you will regret lost opportunities 
 and will long to return. While in the flesh set 
 your affections beyond the material plane. It is 
 a law of life to ascend. " Lay up for yourselves 
 treasure in heaven." Send your rich thought 
 and adoration to God during your life on earth. 
 Subdue the flesh, and do not allow it to subdue 
 
126 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 you. Set aside everything that holds you down, 
 and press on in faith to the heights, while you 
 are still veiled in flesh. You must ever look up- 
 ward and keep in mind your highest thought. 
 Then will you find it true that when you awake, 
 you will have the Christ likeness. 
 
CHAPTBE XXX 
 
 BEAEING MUCH FEUIT 
 
 Not I nor any one else can travel that road for you. 
 You must travel It for yourself. 
 
 Walt Whitman 
 
 TO evolve either on the spiritual or on the 
 material plane is the same thing, it is to 
 know more of God. In this knowing 
 we make for simplicity, purity and truth; we 
 obtain light, ever increasing light. It is not your 
 beliefs that matter. You may believe a great 
 many things about religion, but only the things 
 of which the inner consciousness approves will 
 ever be of value to you. The soul possesses rich 
 insight and delicate intuition. Again we urge 
 upon you to follow only the divine innermost. 
 
 It does not matter how large a body of people 
 follow some special leading, i/ou dare not do any 
 other than obey your guide. It is quite possible 
 that you are a path finder, and must take your 
 
 127 
 
128 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 first steps alone, but your affinities will soon 
 gather about you and bless you for giving life to 
 their ideals. The spokes of the wheel point in 
 opposite directions, but they have one centre. 
 You will learn to act wisely with the individual, 
 to get the greatest good out of every opportunity 
 by following the law of sequence. A voice or a 
 look will give the key to the character, and you 
 will know how to help and serve in the 'highest 
 way possible. 
 
 God sets His mark upon every individual soul, 
 the thoughts and secrets of the heart create man's 
 immediate environment, his imaginations are 
 photographed in the mind stuff emanating from 
 the physical body. A movement, a gesture, a 
 word, all these convey a message to the seer. The 
 soul looks out through the eyes. No man can be 
 hidden really. If you follow the spirit's leading 
 at the time it is given, that is the psychological 
 ■moment both for yourself and for others; but if 
 you delay, the guidance may cease to' be the right 
 thing for you. In that hour, when the urge is 
 upon you, Christ says : " Rise and follow Me," 
 for it is Christ who leads you. 
 
BEAEING MUCH FRUIT 129 
 
 It is always the sequence of events that moves. 
 In all these individual acts you are making for 
 greater, wider issues, and these acts fit into others 
 until the moment is ripe for great action. "And 
 a little one shall become a thousand." Live and 
 speak the thing written in your heart, and you 
 will set at liberty a thousand others. As the 
 Book of Wisdom reveals in these words : "I 
 said, I will water my best garden and will 
 water abundantly my garden bed, and Lo! my 
 brook became a river and my river became a 
 SEA. Behold that I have not laboured for myself 
 only, but for all them that seek wisdom " ( Ecclus. 
 xxiv. 31, 34). 
 
 As we have almost reached the end of these 
 special messages, I emphasize very strongly this 
 individual purity of soul, for what you are, your 
 earth will be. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXI 
 
 DEATH — THE GREAT ILLUSION 
 
 And the dead whom ye loved ye shall walk with, and speak 
 
 with the lost 
 The delusion of death shall pass, 
 
 The delusion of mounded earth, the apparent withdrawal ; 
 Ye shall shed your bodies and upward flutter to freedom. 
 
 Stephen Phillips 
 
 THEKE is a strong desire on this side to 
 establish a festival day, when earth and 
 heaven may meet and have sweet and 
 conscious fellowship. This will not be possible 
 unless you co-operate with us on this side, and 
 firmly hold in thought the desire to make the two 
 worlds one, for those who are willing and ready. 
 At certain times and seasons we can make our- 
 selves felt and seen more than at others : on cer- 
 tain days, such as on the anniversaries of good 
 men and women who have come to us here. Inde- 
 pendence Day is a call to loyal hearts on this 
 side. The Communion service is sometimes a 
 
 130 
 
DEATH — THE GREAT ILLUSION 131 
 
 meeting-place for souls ; to acquire strength and 
 self-realization, however, All Souls' Day seems 
 the most helpful to both sides, the vibrations on 
 that day being finer and stronger, more spiritual 
 and free from curiosity. By the transmutation 
 of pure mental energy, your thoughts often reach 
 us in truly beautiful forms. 
 
 Intimate and sacred memorials are pictured 
 before us. I have seen exquisite flower forms 
 surrounding the loved ones here, also hands and 
 eyes, filled with loving greetings, piercing the 
 veils of illusion by pure love. The vibrations on 
 both sides might be strengthened, for our mutual 
 joy and comfort. On such a day in the near 
 future, you will find that many will recognize 
 their loved ones and know beyond all doubt that 
 there is no separation. In the meantime you 
 need not wait to establish a method of communi- 
 cation with us. In this, as in all quests on the 
 spiritual plane, do not follow the path of science. 
 Trust only the intuitions, and you will not make 
 mistakes. Science tabulates, explains and rea- 
 sons from knowledge perceived by the intuitions, 
 good and valuable work but always secondary. 
 
132 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 Your true genius is the intuitional personality, 
 able to define in scientific terms, to give a reason 
 for his vision in terms of time and space. Many 
 earnest seekers fail in the quest, because they 
 start with preconceived ideas, and thus they 
 themselves close the door to higher revelation. 
 There are a great number on your plane trying to 
 discover the laws of telepathy, but the mind is 
 full of technicalities, they are seeking something 
 that resembles the methods of wireless telegraphy, 
 and thinking of receivers and transmitters ; in- 
 deed, they are really looking for a system, not for 
 that higher revelation which is above science and 
 system and yet holds within itself laws both 
 scientific and systematic. Seek first for truth 
 and revelation, and leave the exposition to 
 science, the handmaid of truth. The message is 
 not conveyed, since space is non-existent; it is 
 pictured on the mirror of the soul. When you 
 think from the centre, your thought is at once 
 creative and visible here. 
 
 Our hope is that you will find a clue in pho- 
 tography such as will establish beyond doubt and 
 suspicion our presence in your midst. Some on 
 
DEATH — THE GEEAT ILLUSION 133 
 
 this side have already tried to set up a code of 
 electric flashes. If you on your side could pre- 
 pare a sensitive plate we should be able to give 
 true impressions by actual word. It would be 
 more satisfactory at this stage to give proof with- 
 out the help of mediums, and so bring comfort 
 and consolation to the bereaved. We have so 
 far done good work through the kind help of 
 mediums, but, as you know, we have to wait days 
 for the right conditions, and then it often hap- 
 pens that personality unconsciously intrudes. 
 We can also make our presence known by sound ; 
 to do this we draw upon the physical magnetism. 
 I have no hesitation in saying that it is best to 
 follow the line of evolution, which means that if 
 you accustom yourselves to obey your intuitions, 
 we shall soon meet and talk together without pub- 
 licity and with certainty, as the speech is between 
 souls and this language is universal. 
 
 In the meantime, for the help and comfort of 
 the bereaved, we hope much from photography 
 and the electric flash. Try at all times to set your 
 heart towards God, Who is sufficient for all the 
 need of the world. By striving after this high- 
 
134 SPIRITUAL EEOONSTRUCTION 
 
 est Thought, by living each moment at your best, 
 by loving and serving in every way possible to 
 you, there opens up a path wherein the weaker 
 souls may walk with safety. The doors open for 
 fresh illumination and the underworlds are 
 stirred into aspiration and holy desire. You 
 cannot live unto yourself ; every fresh expression 
 of God carries the world forward. We see so 
 much pain and sorrow on the earth just now, that 
 a great effort is being made to lift the veils and 
 reveal, in your very midst, an infinite world of 
 light and love, the realization of which will en- 
 able the sorrow-stricken to feel that there are no 
 more partings. The Lord shall wipe away all 
 tears by the comfort of sweet communion with 
 the beloved. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 " THEY THAT 60 DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS . . . 
 THESE SEE THE WORKS OF THE LORD " 
 
 I do not doubt that whatever can possibly happen any- 
 where at any time is provided for in the inherences of 
 things (did you think life was so well provided for, and 
 death, the purport of all life, is not well provided for?). 
 
 Walt Whitman 
 
 EVERY soul is lovingly cared for at the 
 moment of transition; not one is missed, 
 they are all helped at this time of need, 
 whatever the physical condition may be. What 
 is not generally known is the fact that often the 
 passing is without fear, and quite painless. In 
 many instances the soul glimpses the reality long 
 before the change. Little children pass from love 
 to greater love, and tired men and women to rest. 
 There is high service for those who are ready, and 
 loving ministry given to the unfit. God has a 
 place for every soul and it is the right place, 
 
 135 
 
136 SPIRITUAL REOONSTEUOTION 
 
 where all that is good can flourish and develop. 
 They are coming in large numbers from your 
 plane, in every condition both from land and from 
 sea. These brave men from the sea have their 
 own way of coming to us, and we think it would 
 help many to know about them, so we will tell 
 you. When a vessel at sea is threatened with dis- 
 aster, our Helpers surround those on board in 
 great numbers. They assume the appearance of 
 every means of rescue known to the men. 
 
 As the spirits leave the bodies, they are met 
 with immediate help, as if rescued by material 
 means. In most instances, they are not aware 
 of the passing from the physical plane, and often 
 wish to continue the fight if it is a battle at sea. 
 They are saved from shock by loving thought and 
 preparation. 
 
 I will explain this to you from the sailor's 
 point of view, A great catastrophe at sea hap- 
 pens suddenly without warning, apparently great 
 numbers are fatally injured, drowned and killed 
 by explosions. As the souls become released 
 from the bodies, they see in all directions life- 
 boats manned by sailors coming to the rescue. 
 
" DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS " 137 
 
 Life belts, rocket apparatus and every appliance 
 of rescue appear. The souls are all helped and 
 taken to a safe shore. They would tell you in al- 
 most every instance that they were not drowned 
 or killed but saved. Those who have suffered 
 prolonged exposure and have become impressed 
 with a memory of pain and fear, need rest ; these 
 are helped to quiet sleep, many of our helpers 
 ministering in various ways, so that the awaken- 
 ing will be harmonious and gradual. We ask 
 you to help them also by faith in the love that 
 notes the falling sparrow and counts the very 
 hairs of your head, that meets every need both 
 for them and for you. God is all-sufficient and 
 love is everlastingly the Lord and giver of Life. 
 The broken bodies have often not had time to 
 stamp the soul through the mind, and therefore 
 many 'are quite unaware that the body is muti- 
 lated; consequently, they appear whole. They 
 are cared for in every particular and surrounded 
 by infinite love. 
 
 The work of attending to those who pass on is 
 now a very big work. We need your co-opera- 
 tion in this way: that you seek peace and rest 
 
138 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 in God, and do not make the souls heavy by your 
 grief. Later you will feel their presence and 
 their very real help in your lives. For this work 
 some of our helpers have to materialize for a 
 short time, as on the battle-fields, and this ac- 
 counts for their being seen by many on the 
 physical plane. 
 
 The cry of Britain has awakened your late king 
 and He has gone to his son. The great duke is 
 with your armies; manifestations will follow. 
 There is work for all in these coming days and 
 those who are ready are flocking to your aid. 
 Pray for those who'pass on, for prayer gives light 
 in the valley of the shadow. It is a great com- 
 fort to them here to feel your loving remembrance, 
 you still need each other's love. They have not 
 changed in their love and longing for you. You 
 may rise together to higher planes of being. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 " AND NATIONS SHALL COME TO THY LIGHT " 
 
 Lo ! I am the bonder and knitter together of spirits ; 
 I dispense with nations and shores. 
 
 Stephen Phillips 
 
 OUESTIOJSr.— You said in one lesson 
 " that nations die to live again in greater 
 strength and purity." How do you ac- 
 count for those great civilizations that have fallen 
 into decay, and absolutely ceased to be? Records 
 of their high stage of development are all that we 
 have. What about them? 
 
 This is a very natural question, as you do not 
 see the resuscitation of these kingdoms, states 
 and continents, but there is a full and satisfactory 
 answer from points of view that perhaps have a 
 wider reach. In the life of the great Master, you 
 see that above all things else. He is universal : 
 His country was, and is, the whole world. Even 
 those who had been to Him parents, brothers, 
 
 139 
 
140 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUCTION 
 
 close relations were not any nearer or dearer than 
 you or I, or any of whom you think. Their 
 possession of Him was really greater because of 
 the wide out-going love, but that was difficult for 
 them to understand at their particular stage of 
 development, as we see by the remark of the 
 mother of Jesus : " Thy father and I have 
 sought Thee sorrowing." Jesus was God's 
 divine idea for humanity, the Eternal Christ. 
 We also must become universal, there must not 
 be any division or separation from the world even 
 by special earth ties. Almost the first words to 
 a true disciple are, " Leave all and follow Me." 
 To Him the world was father, mother, sister, 
 brother, all lovers. There was a point of contact 
 in Him with all nations and peoples, and we can- 
 not really connect Him with any separate nation 
 or people. He did not remain long in any one 
 place. His loves and affections were universal. 
 
 One good effect of this war will be to bring to- 
 gether the ends of the earth. Every cell in the 
 mystic body is sustained by the life blood of the 
 eternal Christ. The one great heart is the centre 
 of us all. If the hands are now outstretched in 
 
" THY LIGHT " 141 
 
 crucifixion by this war, they will yet meet in an 
 embrace of reconciliation. Owing to this inner 
 mystic relationship with all life, it follows that 
 because of your right action other parts of the 
 body will be brought into order and harmony. 
 If your heart beats in unison with the eternal 
 heart, the rhythm of your life spreads and in- 
 creases, actually starting into life inert cells and 
 reaching ultimately to the outermost circumfer- 
 ence. This is in order to bring the lost and 
 separated into one fold. Now, these nations and 
 civilizations of which you are thinking have not 
 ceased to be: they exist and are on this earth 
 now — most of them. 
 
 If you consider America and look beneath the 
 seeming chaos of peoples, you will see there the 
 emergence of a very old civilization and of many 
 extreme mental conditions. In the future, Amer- 
 ica will be the soul of the world, if she but keep 
 true to the spiritual force now working through 
 her. The great mystics of pre-Eeformation days 
 are reincarnating there, and the fusion of the 
 races is being effected for high purposes of evolu- 
 tion that each may help the whole. Catholicism 
 
142 SPIRITUAL BECONSTEUCTION 
 
 is side by side with agnosticism and rationalists 
 are in contact with the purest philosophies. 
 There is also a reincarnation of initiates of old 
 Egypt, and even of older peoples of whom you 
 have scant record : these have now a purified in- 
 telligence and will have much to reveal. Your 
 nation has yet much to learn on the earth plane, 
 but these old nations are bringing forward their 
 knowledge in higher, purer forms. 
 
 If America makes for separation, she loses 
 power. Great beings are helping to keep that 
 people from disaster just now. It is the cradle 
 of the new race, and in the fresh consciousness 
 great things are written for the future. You and 
 they are one, and in the question of the coloured 
 races you will have to help. They have, in their 
 midst, souls in the highest and lowest stages of 
 evolution. There is no place on your earth plane 
 where so many tides meet. May they all flow 
 into the ocean of infinite and eternal love, all be- 
 coming attuned to the one centre and source. 
 Send out to them your thoughts of good. One 
 good thought includes all good thought and 
 touches God, making springs to appear in desert 
 
" THY LIGHT " 143 
 
 places and flowers to bloom in the garden of the 
 soul. 
 
 Hear the words of the inner Christ from the 
 Book of Wisdom : " I came out of the mouth of 
 the Most High, and covered the earth as a cloud. 
 I dwelt in high places and My throne is in a 
 cloudy pillar. I alone compassed the circuit of 
 heaven and walked in the bottom of the deep. In 
 the waves of the sea and in all the earth, and in 
 every people and nation, I got a possession." It 
 is this life that lives in you and is creative now 
 through the human consciousness. I look beyond 
 the present phase, and I see a people regenerated, 
 yet infinitely greater, and He that is greatest is 
 still the servant of all. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 " HE FILLETH ALL THINGS WITH HIS WISDOM " 
 
 That the name of Christ may be exalted and glorified in 
 us, we should follow Him up the mountain of our pure rea- 
 son. 
 
 And in His name, His Father in heaven will open to us 
 the living book of His eternal wisdom. 
 
 John of Jtuysbroech 
 
 TO the unseeing eye Nature stops short in 
 her symbolism. The law of periodicity 
 running through all life sometimes be- 
 wilders the earnest student. You see the tree 
 flourish, come to perfection, and then decay. The 
 moon waxes and wanes, the heart expands and 
 contracts, there are periods of fulness and of 
 want. In religion, in history, in all life, this is 
 the one supreme law. The cycles of life come to 
 great heights and then seem to retrogress, but 
 look deeper, and first of all at the soul. In the 
 great quest of life, in this seeking after the high- 
 est, the soul reaches out to its fullest capacity, 
 
 144 
 
" HE FILLETH ALL THINGS " 145 
 
 and becomes a creative force. It has touched 
 God and man, henceforth the things of time and 
 space are secondary. The soul has found its 
 home, its work for humanity, at its highest stage 
 in the present cycle. It now gives, and by its 
 power to pierce the clouds of illusion opens a 
 way by which new light and life may issue, a 
 pathway for other souls to follow ever upward 
 and onward, when they too feel the divine urge 
 of the soul. 
 
 The tremendous vibrations of the present war 
 are hastening the close of an old dispensation. 
 This is also the sacrificial period. The world 
 cycles when at the highest are lifted into spiritual 
 planes, just as the soul is, they also leave the 
 seed thought, which becomes buried for purposes 
 of growth. The retrogression is only apparent, 
 for these zymotic periods in nature, in the soul, 
 in all life, produce the seed for fresh development, 
 and the hiddenness of the seed is a time of gather- 
 ing energy, force and fulness. At the same time 
 the soul and the cycle begin to emerge in higher 
 realms, and both the physical and the spiritual 
 planes are enriched by every gleam of the soul. 
 
146 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUCTION 
 
 Your earth is now preparing for a fresh unf old- 
 ment of the divine idea; all that is best, the 
 noblest thought you can conceive, is now the seed, 
 the beginning of that which shall be. There is 
 no parting of the ways, no finality, but gradual 
 development ; and a time of darkness such as the 
 present is of the utmost value. Be strong in 
 faith and patience, and thus nourish the hidden 
 word. The idea of God has unfolded through- 
 out the ages, from the most elemental stages to 
 the highest intelligence of the present day, but 
 you are only at the beginnings. At every high 
 period men re-discover, but with greater clarity, 
 that which has always been evident from the be- 
 ginning. 
 
 In the story of Eden the true meaning of the 
 Godhead and the Trinity was clearly shown and 
 yet wisely hidden. In Adam we see the Father 
 symbolized, in Eve the divine feminine, the spirit 
 proceeding from the Father, and the word made 
 flesh. Then at the greatest and highest period of 
 that important cycle, we see the holy family with 
 a higher meaning. Focussed in that group is the 
 whole history of your earth, the beginning and the 
 
" HE FILLETH ALL THINGS " 147 
 
 end. The divine feminine, the spirit, brings forth 
 the Christ of God, and until the Christhood of 
 the Eace is reached you will find all the guidance 
 you need in that wondrous life. Jesus is a 
 symbol of the highest and holiest to which we 
 may attain. Like Him we shall see that we no 
 longer need forms or personality to reproduce 
 the life principle. In that great interval from 
 God to God, the divine intelligence is unfolded 
 in every human soul. 
 
 You hold within yourself all that exists. 
 There is nothing for you outside your own con- 
 sciousness, but can you find room for that of 
 which you are aware? The real You is formless, 
 whereas even a speck of infinity would assume 
 endless forms. In you is that great awareness, 
 omnipotence and omnipresence. By losing the 
 self of the senses you attain to your true centre 
 and source, but God must be perfectly expressed 
 in every thought and act of your life, and in this 
 faithful fulfilment of the Christ teaching, your 
 consciousness grows and expands, until at its 
 highest it moves to loftier planes and lives in 
 other lives, leaving a trail of light for those who 
 
148 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Help 
 your world to get back to its centre and source, 
 in every act of your life. 
 
 "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
 all be made alive." 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 THE THOUGHT WITHIN THE THOUGHT 
 
 God appears in the best thought, in the truest speech, 
 in the sincerest action. Through His pure spirit He giveth 
 health, prosperity, devotion, and eternity to the universe. 
 He Is the Father of all truth. 
 
 Persian Scriptures 
 
 THE underlying, invisible cause or prin- 
 ciple is absolute thought. How much 
 do you know of thought? Really very 
 little, but what you do know is a great unveiling. 
 Behind all appearance, all phenomena, is thought. 
 The highest to which the soul attains is the divine 
 thought within the innermost YOU, ever seeking 
 expression. Your only conception of life is by 
 means of thought. Try to realize its depth, 
 beauty and fathomless immensity. You may lose 
 your outer personality a thousand times, but the 
 thought, the real you, persists and takes many 
 vestures. It is, as you perceive, both masculine 
 and feminine, and is creative. 
 
 149 
 
150 SPIRITUAL RECONSTEUCTION 
 
 The true artist makes room for the divine 
 thought and expresses to some extent the beauty 
 of the Lord. The poet feels the surge of this 
 illuminating pure thought and tries to utter its 
 harmonious cadence. We feel it at the basis of 
 all our mental processes. It is always ours; 
 though only in deep meditation do we draw fresh 
 supplies. The chief door which closes against 
 this pure thought is selfishness, which is destruc- 
 tive to the noblest and the best. We are in the 
 way of truth and life according as we express the 
 highest thought we feel, and become the best we 
 perceive. 
 
 Knowing God as absolute thought, we see that 
 Jesus the Christ manifests the divine idea for all 
 humanity. Well may He be called the first-born 
 Son of God, being the most perfect expression 
 of this absolute thought and identified with the 
 transcendent consciousness of the great I am. 
 Here, we can feel the life which is in all. Alas, 
 that in so many there is but faint thought of 
 God! What is it that calls forth our deepest 
 devotion and adoration? It is that consecrated 
 thought within. No sacrament or church can do 
 
THE THOUGHT WITHIN 151 
 
 more than draw the soul towards this all-satisfy- 
 ing thought, for it contains every possibility and 
 power of life. 
 
 You cannot conceive of existence without 
 thought. The very rocks and stones have a form 
 of consciousness and are permeated by this living 
 thought. It is vital, quickening, and it builds 
 continually. How do you express love but by the 
 thoughts of your heart? " Keep thy heart with 
 all diligence, for out of it are all the issues of 
 Life." Love is the supreme centre of this abso- 
 lute thought, not yet have we the capacity to re- 
 ceive its full meaning. Love never fails; it is 
 constructive and is expressed by thought. What 
 is duration, but continuous thought? 
 
 You are going to learn much more about this 
 in the coming days. There are days when your 
 whole nature is transformed, buoyant, thrilled, 
 with the might of illuminated thought. It is an 
 ocean wherein souls dwell. We may launch out 
 into the deeps of God and fear not. Eead the 
 Gospel of St. John, the first eighteen verses, and 
 you will feel the glory of pure absolute thought, 
 as did this great mystic disciple of the Master — 
 
152 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 feel it finding its highest expression, but always 
 emerging clearer and purer. On our side we are 
 getting fresh gleams arising from your plane, 
 and these prove to us that you have glimpsed the 
 meaning of the solidarity of the race as never 
 before; but you have obtained only a glimpse. 
 There are infinite possibilities in store for us all. 
 We have to reveal God to the world, to respond 
 to that holiest, highest thought within us on both 
 planes. " Be of good cheer, I have overcome the 
 world," says the purest One. When you put 
 away the false conception of God, the truth arises 
 in the soul. 
 
 The ground is holy. I speak with profound 
 humility and reverence when I say that you are 
 on the threshold of great discoveries which are 
 profoundly satisfying, clearing the mind of all 
 idea of God as a personality, thinkable to finite 
 mind. What of this highest thought in relation 
 to prayer? We can hold the dear ones for whom 
 we pray in this same thought and so learn God's 
 will for them, and by the swift potency of this in- 
 nermost thought we can touch the depths of their 
 
THE THOUGHT WITHIN 153 
 
 being with blessed help and healing, for all life 
 is one. 
 
 Be swift to obey that delicate inward thought. 
 It conveys to us the trinity of existence: light, 
 life, and love, and is our real substance. You 
 have known so little of the true meaning of abso- 
 lute, pure thought, for it has been veiled in wis- 
 dom. Out of thought all existence, all truth, all 
 reconstructive processes emerge; we cannot con- 
 fine it in terms of time and space. As we appre- 
 hend more of its might and majesty, its indestruc- 
 tible essence, we are led a step farther, and we 
 know that the thought will reveal the Thinker. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVI 
 
 " THE SON OF MAN 'mUST SUFFER MANY THINGS " 
 
 And which of us does not long with his whole soul that 
 the sorry scheme of things, which we used to call civiliza- 
 tion, may be shattered and reconstructed to nobler ends. 
 
 Omar K. 
 
 LET the dead bury their dead, what is that 
 to thee? . . . Follow thou Me." This is 
 one of the great mystic utterances of the 
 Master, and as the disciple progresses in the 
 spiritual life he discerns the wonderful meaning 
 for, and within, himself. You have now finished 
 with the plane of falsity, finality, ignorance and 
 death. " What is that to thee? " You are not 
 to have any concern with sin and disease, that has 
 no root in your own consciousness. ( The Christ 
 consciousness is absolute and sinless. ) As I have 
 often tried to show, there is much unnecessary 
 suffering of no value in the evolution of the soul. 
 On the plane of the senses, there are many false 
 conditions which you would do well to ignore; 
 
 154 
 
"THE SON OF MAN" 155 
 
 they will pass like the mist from a mountain 
 peak. 
 
 Many good men have suffered for things of no 
 importance, and so stamped false values in the 
 mind. These things belong to finality and death. 
 You can remove them from your environment by 
 the strong word. There are trees which do not 
 bear fruit; the life within you shall speak the 
 strong word whereby they wither and die. There 
 are growths without root that will, of themselves, 
 wither and decay, sins and diseases born out of 
 false thought ; these have no depth, no soil. They 
 have not touched the Christ consciousness in you. 
 That which is true substance is eternal and abid- 
 ing. " Be ye stedf ast, immovable." Be Godlike. 
 Look through things, do not judge by appear- 
 ances, and you will find that many of these sins 
 and diseases are born of the fleeting emotions of 
 the false mentality; they are without form and 
 void. You are in quest of God. It is an open 
 quest to find the infinite behind form and finite 
 modes. The only initiation for this great and 
 holy task is a right attitude towards life with its 
 manifold experiences. In each and every task 
 
1,56 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 the soul is quickened to further perception, deeper 
 spiritual insight. 
 
 By the consciousness of the presence, you are 
 upheld and you realize — however dimly — that 
 the present phase is a most valuable period for 
 the development of the creative forces within, 
 that your bodies may be perfect instruments for 
 the expression of the divine idea — the true self. 
 The true birthplace of the living principle is in 
 the heart. Out of the heart by the strength of 
 the living word we can dispel the mists and 
 shadows. 
 
 You ask if a man can go into this war for the 
 sake of righteousness, in defence of the weak, 
 and still keep his faith with God and man. The 
 men forced to take weapons and fight are guilt- 
 less, unless they have hatred in their hearts. 
 There are many who are guilty, and whose future 
 will be a long cleansing for this present war. 
 They will have to give account to life for those 
 sins done in the flesh; but if a man has a clean 
 soul and goes as a willing tool for the cause of 
 truth and righteousness — as far as he knows — 
 he has nothing to fear; for him all is well. The 
 
"THE SON OF MAN" 157 
 
 issues are in God's hands. The inner meaning of 
 these words will unfold in the soul as you read. 
 A great many have found the highest Self through 
 these same experiences. He makes even the 
 wrath of men to serve His high purpose. " He 
 rides upon the storm." The greatest forces of life 
 are silent: they are not guns or ammunition. 
 The infinite truths are conveyed without words. 
 The real war is within, and true peace can come 
 only by victory in the soul. 
 
 This is a time of darkness, but in it many are 
 finding the light of life, and out of the void cometh 
 the All. We see things so differently here. 
 Those whom the world calls sinners are often 
 great in soul and unselfish in their lives. Listen 
 to the Master : " Judge not," and look for the 
 true personality, build your thoughts upon this 
 one foundation of us all. This is spiritual heal- 
 ing for individuals, communities and nations. 
 There is good and pure desire in every nation of 
 the earth, and you cannot be right while any oth- 
 ers are suffering. " The Son of Man still suffers 
 many things in us all." By helping the whole of 
 humanity, you are really helping your own coun- 
 try; not otherwise. God is over all and in all. 
 
158 SPIRITUAL EEOONSTEUOTION 
 
 There is no distinction of race in the eternal 
 mind. The judgment bar of God is within you, 
 and if you can feel there that the motive is true 
 self-sacrifice, that you go to defend the right of 
 all men, then for you all is well. 
 
 Life is indestructible; to harm the soul is a 
 far more serious matter than to kill with the 
 sword. It is really impossible to kill life. Men 
 of all creeds and races quickly associate in per- 
 fect friendliness here. The fellowship of their 
 suffering has made them one. " That I may 
 know the fellowship of His suffering," has been 
 realized here. There is one beautiful home of 
 healing where some of the greatest misunder- 
 standings of earth have been healed by divine love 
 and compassion, and these healed souls are seek- 
 ing means of spreading their deeper knowledge 
 of life to you on earth. Those who are in the 
 throes of ignorance will certainly feel the minis- 
 trations of these awakened souls. We are hoping 
 soon to have many centres combining every form 
 of thought on earth and unifying in love. It is 
 truly delightful to see their enthusiasm and keen 
 desire to return and share this harmony of spirit 
 with you all. Suffering is never far from joy. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVII 
 
 Let us adore the supremacy of that spiritual sun, the 
 Godhead, who illuminates all, who recreates all, from 
 Whom all proceed, to Whom all must return ; Whom we in- 
 voke to direct our undertakings aright, in our progress 
 towards His holy seat 
 
 Hindu Scriptures 
 
 WE are children of light. Let your light 
 shine before men and so glorify the 
 Father of light in whom is no variable- 
 ness, no shadow made by turning." I have so 
 much more, to reveal than there is language 
 wherewith to express it. I long to speak in the 
 language of Heaven, soul with soul, but this is 
 not yet quite possible for most people. Still, I 
 desire above all else that you may yourself open 
 the closed doors of the senses and look into the 
 interior worlds. If you catch but a glimpse, it 
 will kindle in you that exhilaration and aspira- 
 tion so necessary to the climber towards spiritual 
 heights. Here is there, and there is here ; in your- 
 
 159 
 
160 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 self alone is the one door that opens to heaven 
 and God. " Knock and it shall be opened, Seek 
 and ye shall find," then " Blessed are ye." 
 
 The whole trend of life is Godward. You see 
 the rays of the sun, how they reach far out, but 
 they are not separated from the sun, they are 
 withdrawn to shine forth with greater brilliancy. 
 The rays are always there, but the sun is the 
 centre and source. If you do not realize your 
 true life in the ray, get a glimpse of the sun of 
 your soul, the light for your consciousness, and 
 new desire shall come to birth within you. 
 
 There are spheres of being where all is light 
 and love, but the angels who inhabit these 
 spheres do not understand this pure bliss, be- 
 cause it is their natural element; when the ap- 
 pointed hour arrives, however, they will descend 
 the ladder of life to darkness and sorrow, and 
 through this knowledge shall they come to know 
 the ineffable and inexpressible joy. They will re- 
 ascend the ladder, one step at a time, each step 
 highly significant, and so become Godlike, angelic 
 men and women. 
 
 There are other spheres into which no inhar- 
 
" CELESTIAL BODIES ALSO " 161 
 
 monious vibrations can penetrate, for they would 
 be broken at the threshold; these are painless 
 spheres from which we descend to sorrow and 
 grief that we may know through this experience 
 our own divine pure nature and our true ele- 
 ment. We who have dwelt in the one will that 
 radiates light and love, and that makes harmony, 
 have to learn that we are theophanies, to live 
 consciously in the will of God and to bring into 
 creativeness the light, love, and harmony of pure 
 existence. We become acquainted with grief, we 
 are afSiicted and suffer loss that light and life may 
 be brought to the uttermost circumference, that 
 mortals may know immortality and consciously 
 enjoy God for ever. We come ever through suf- 
 fering to joy. We may not say " It is finished " 
 until we have touched the depths of human experi- 
 ence and given ourselves for the good of all. 
 Then do we reascend, children of light, having 
 " glorified our Father which is in heaven," and 
 possessed of the capacity for a discriminating joy 
 and wisdom, for in our earth experience we gain 
 the knowledge of the glory of God, and hence- 
 forth, with bodies luminous and celestial, we 
 
162 SPIRITUAL EECONSTEUCTION 
 
 dwell in light, for the "Lamb is light"— we 
 make the sacrifice of self on the altars of life. 
 
 The truth of evolution lies hidden in the story 
 of Jacob's dream. By this war you are being 
 awakened out of materialism and there is to be 
 a fresh descent into your plane of a wider and a 
 fuller consciousness of God, which will raise the 
 whole earth out of sleep and inertia. Many of 
 the souls who have come to us suddenly will re- 
 incarnate soon, as there is no better plane for 
 their unfoldment than the earth. There is valu- 
 able experience to be gained on the earth plane, 
 a true beginning for the very highest that is pos- 
 sible to the personality, after which the evolution 
 is of a different order and holds high responsi- 
 bilities. As we begin the steps of ascent, memory 
 dimly returns, every rung of the ladder gives us 
 back our powers with double blessedness, until 
 we hear the word : " Enter now into the joy of 
 your Lord." This is true of every human soul; 
 the lowest hell is materialism, inertia or the sleep 
 of the soul, as typified by Jacob, the intelligence 
 being content to rest on stone. 
 
 Follow the pure reason of the intuitions and 
 
" CELESTIAL BODIES ALSO " 163 
 
 you will receive the key that will open the book 
 of divine wisdom. Free yourself from the false 
 sense of limitation and measure yourself by the 
 great thought that fills all space, for "Ye are 
 Christ's and Christ is God's." To be a Christian 
 means that to you has come the great anointing, 
 the chrism, and you are now in very deed a 
 Christly soul ready to wear the yoke, and to bear 
 the burdens of the weary and heavy laden. Let 
 love shine forth in every word and action of your 
 life. Fulfil the law of Christhood, and breathe 
 out peace and goodwill to all men. Lowly and 
 meek-hearted, ye shall be as the shade from the 
 heat and a well-spring of living waters to 
 thirsty souls. 
 
 There has never been a greater or grander op- 
 portunity for Christians, than the present, to 
 show forth the " love which passeth knowledge," 
 and to heal the heartaches of the sorrow-stricken. 
 This little book is to remind you of your calling 
 and election, which is to do the will of Him Who 
 sent you forth, strong to bless, to heal the sick 
 and cast out all false conditions by awakening 
 the soul to know the truth that sets us all free. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 " THEY SHALL GO NO MORE OUT " 
 
 Inherit ttie kingdom prepared . . . since the foundation 
 of the world. 
 It is finished. 
 I have finished my course. 
 I will give thee a crown of life. 
 
 THIS is the last chapter of the present 
 series, and as we leave these thoughts 
 with you, may we remind you of our un- 
 ceasing co-operation in every effort towards the 
 fulfilment of these inner spiritual laws. Even as 
 you read these words, the atmosphere about you 
 is full of spiritual beings, the heavenly ministers 
 ready to do His will and pleasure, and it is His 
 pleasure to give you this kingdom, that you also 
 may serve Him, not alone and unaided, but with 
 a mighty host that ministers to Him day and 
 night. This spiritual world interpenetrates your 
 very bodies, partaking of the same rich life, for 
 we are all members one of another in a very real 
 
 164 
 
" THEY SHALL GO NO MORE OUT " 165 
 
 sense. You are never alone, never isolated from 
 life. Thousands of hearts are beating in unison 
 with yours, comrades are close at hand, there 
 are friends and lovers all about you. You may 
 sit in silence and become conscious of these 
 things, your soul can be in heaven and enjoy the 
 closest communion with the holiest and the high- 
 est. 
 
 In the hour when the temptation to sadness 
 and loneliness is upon you, look up, rejoice. The 
 Lord is nigh and the dear familiar ones are with 
 you. The little child comes again to play at your 
 knee. The mother reaches out her hands in lov- 
 ing guidance. The lover and the beloved are one. 
 The laws of life are so perfect, that every step to- 
 wards the centre may be in itself a radiant dwell- 
 ing-place. But the soul ever seeks its true home, 
 and, if faithful, shall at the end of life's experi- 
 ences receive the crown of life, which is the pure 
 existence, and become as a pillar to serve the 
 highest purposes. All the days of his pilgrimage 
 being ended, he shall go no more out. 
 
 We have all been prodigals and dwelt in the 
 far-away consciousness, but we return and be- 
 
166 SPIRITUAL RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 come sons and daughters greatly beloved. God 
 comes out to meet us in this earth experience. 
 Draw nigh unto God, bring heaven to earth with 
 its peace and goodwill to all men. Your dimmed 
 vision is the only barrier between us. We walk 
 and talk with you and help you in all your striv- 
 ings Godward. 
 
 The stricken on the fields of battle are lovingly 
 cared for by those both in and out of the body. 
 In all their afflictions He is afflicted, but the 
 angel of His presence saves them. The hearts 
 broken are gently healed, if they but hold on to 
 the unseen and the eternal. There is One in your 
 midst — so near — Who feels the sigh of pain. 
 He wipes away all tears. There are days of peace 
 at hand, when all shall rest from the strain and 
 the anguish. The dawn, with its purity and 
 cleansing, shall break upon the earth. Look be- 
 yond the present to the rich reward of your 
 sacrifice, and you will see the Son of Man making 
 new paths for your feet, a highway for the sons 
 of men, room for the stranger and alien to dwell 
 together as brothers. This is no dream ; the day 
 is at hand when men shall work with purer mo- 
 
" THEY SHALL GO NO MORE OUT " 167 
 
 tives and life become possible to the weakest as 
 well as to the strongest, for the weak shall He 
 carry by the strength of the strong. 
 
 True co-operation in every walk of life 
 has already begun, even during these latter 
 months there have been swift changes on your 
 earth. It will soon be impossible to reject the 
 thought of a future life, or of our nearness to 
 you; we are able to reach you now as never be- 
 fore. But for our help you would have known 
 defeat and much greater suffering. 
 
 The great aim and object is to obtain the ut- 
 most good for all the nations of the earth out of 
 this terrible war, and, if the issue seems pro- 
 longed, the reason is that you are not yet ready 
 for peace. The time is not ripe for the good of 
 all. You must prepare for peace as earnestly as 
 you prepared for war. See to the enemy within 
 the gates, disintegrating the true manhood and 
 womanhood of the race. The real salvation of 
 your country depends upon its inner purity of 
 will and desire. The forces that make for the 
 destruction of a nation or a people are not the 
 forces of war, terrible as they are. Put away 
 
168 SPIRITUAL EECONSTRUCTION 
 
 the drink and cleanse you hearts, make room for 
 purity and truth. Look out on life with love and 
 goodwill towards all men. These are the things 
 that make a nation great for all time. You must 
 prepare most earnestly for Peace. 
 
 THE END 
 
11