I "I^ive the/e Books
far the fsi^niiiag ef a. Collegt in- this Celoitytl

Gift of
New York Tribune
1923

SACKED OCCULTISM SERIES

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
SACRED OCCULTISM SERIES
Uniform in Binding with This Volume
Recurring Earth-Lives, How and Why :
Reincarnation Described and Ex
plained,
The Truth about Christ and the
Atonement, (In Preparation.)
The Return of tiie World-Teacher. (In Preparation.)
The Mystery of the Self and the Houses
it Lives in, {In Preparation.)
The Occult Meaning of Prayer and
Some Great Symbols, {In Preparation. )
E. P, DUTTON & COMPANY

THE SPIEITCAL LIFE
HOW TO ATTAIN IT AND
PREPARE CHILDREN FOR IT

BY
F. MILTON WILLIS
Fellow of the Theosophical Society; Member of the
Order of the Star in the East; Member of
the Karma and Reincarnation Legion

NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 Fifth A-^tenue

Copyright, 1922
By E, P, DUTTON & COMPANY

All Riihtt Reservii

Printed itt th* United States of America

TO THOSE WHO ASPIRE
TOU CANNOT BE OVERLOOKED;
TOUR TEACHER IS WAITING

"From the Unreal lead me to the Real;
From Darkness lead me to Light;
From Death lead me to Immortality,"

PREFACE
The aphorisms of Part I of this little
book were so fortunate as to be accorded
the supremacy in a world-wide contest of
fered by the international monthly maga
zine entitled The Herald of the Star, pub
lished in London. The author having
thereupon received a suggestion that they
be published separately for convenient use,
and believing that some measure of good
might be thus subserved, decided to do
this. In order, however, that the volume
containing them might be of maximum ser
vice, he has amplified them so as to convey
some of the philosophy upon which they
were based, and has included with them an
epitome of the celebrated statement of
eternal principles of human development
entitled "At the Feet of the Master," by
J. Krishnamurti, a shorter statement in
different form and easily memorized, en
titled "The Path of Spiritual Develop
ment," and an essay, "The Plastic Age,"
upon such training of children as should

viii PREFACE
develop in them the foundations of a well-
rounded physical and spiritual life.
The Herald of the Star is devoted, in the
sanest and most practical maimer, to the
interests of reform in many departments
of the world's fundamental activities, and
is unique as being the organ of an interna
tional organisation, "The Order of the
Star in the East," which is endeavoring to
prepare the way, as a modern John the
Baptist, for the early return among the
peoples of the world, from His retirement,
of the Lord Maitreya, the "Teacher of
Gods and Men," the Supreme World-
Teacher, the Christ, the Occult Head of all
the great religions, to aid in solving the
mighty problems which the perplexed
world is facing and with whieh it seems
that only His wisdom can deal. And this
Order is striving to inculcate in its myriads
of members the spiritual views which this
little book, however feebly so far as the
original portion is concerned, seeks to pre
sent — on the assumption that the true way
to recognize, among several pretenders,
perhaps, the Great Teacher when He
comes, is to develop in oneself the attitude

PREFACE ix
of mind and heart rightly termed spiritiml,
which connotes an inteUigent belief in the
oneness of all things and the serviceable
activities that naturally flow therefrom
and also lays particular stress upon dis
crimination between the real and the un
real. F. M. W.
New York, December, 1921.

CONTENTS
PAQB
Part I, The Spiritual Life  1
Part II, Epitome of "At the Feet of
the Master"  49
Part III. The Path of Spiritual Devel
opment  67
Part IV, Phe Plastic Age  73

PART I
The Spibitual Lipb

Part I
THE SPIBITUAL LIFE
APH0EI8M 1
The Spiritual Life perceives the es
sential oneness, the inner relationship,
of all things, and loses no opportunity
and spares no effort to arouse in
others this regenerative insight, in or
der that all forms of life may live in
brotherliness and the sooner rise to
higher issues,
ALL things are one,
¦^ Even as all physical combinations in
our Solar System are various aggregations
of the homogeneous atoms of this outermost
plane, so are those atoms highly complex
aggregations of the ultimate atoms of
primordial matter of a plane of being far
finer than physical matter and hardly to
be distinguished from Spirit. And even as
all earthly lives have certain fundamental
3

4 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
characteristics with respect to physical
conditions — ^namely, power of response,
sensation, perception, realization of space,
time and causality, et cetera — so are these
characteristics derived from and rooted in
Spirit, the One Life of the System,
Spirit and Matter, Life and Form, were
thought into existence by the Lord of the
System — a couple, inseparable. They are
the two aspects of the One. They are the
unthinkable All in manifestation. All
things are one — God in His epiphany.
If the life manifesting in even the cor
rosive mineral, the toxic microbe, the nox
ious herb, the ravening fish, the poisonous
reptile, the carrion bird, the untamable
animal, the wicked human, is the same as
that in you and in me and in the highest
archangel, as it indeed is, should not com
passion pervade us for any of our brothers
who are groping in the darkness of sep-
arateness ; and should we not strive to lead
such as we can to the Light? Perhaps this
viciousness in Nature came from man, and
we are thus in duty bound to eradicate it.
God must be Love; evil could not spring
directly from Him ; it must have come from

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 5
creatures possessing some freedom of ini
tiative seeking their own ends ignorantly;
man is such a creature, and we may en
visage his aeonian career of mistakes by
what we see of him today.* God is Love,
and He uses man's errors to strengthen
and ennoble him.
All things are one — ^there is one life in
all; multiplicity and separateness, in the
far fullness of time, are to become an in
violable harmony of conscious units.

* See Vol, 1 of this Series, ' ' Becvuring Earth-Lives —
How and Why,"

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 2
The Spiritual Life, like the amoeba
with respect to its food, wraps itself
about the things of material life, di
gests them and assimilates them; it is
not imprisoned, impeded or even dis
couraged by the worst of them — but by
means of them develops its Divine
Properties,
nnHE Spiritual Life is not a pale and
-^ sickly, pusinanimouslife;itisamanly,
a womanly, life filled with divine curiosity,
high strivings, rational imagination, cour
age, f orcefulness, helpfulness. It does not
hold itself aloof from the world; it wel
comes experiences, both good and evil, and
seeks their essence and significance, which
it utilizes for its growth in understanding
and efficiency; in every circumstance it
finds food for reflection, and develops by
so much: prisons cannot hold it, hard and
unremitting daily labor cannot thwart it,
neither cares nor illnesses can stay it, nor
joys enjoin it — it is superior to all.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

The Divine Properties, like lotuses in the
mud of lagoons, develop and grow in the
mire of material things. They are, as the
Song Celestial recounts:

Fearlessness, Cleanness of life,
Steadfastness in the pur
suit of the wisdom whieh
leads to union with God,
Almsgiving,Self-restraint, Sacrifice,
Peacefulness,Absence of crookedness.
Compassion to living beings,
Uncovetousness,
Mildness,Modesty,

Study of scriptures.
Austerity, Straightforwardness,
Harmlessness, Truth,
Absence of wrath,
Eenunciation,
Absence of fickleness.
Vigor,
Forgiveness,
Fortitude,Purity, Absence of envy and
pride.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHOEISM 3
The Spiritual Life, realising itself
' Divine, can see all whom, it loves, pass
ing away; all that it is interested in,
going to pieces; its most cherished
feelings, ideals, friendships violated;
the world crashing about it — yet stand
firm, calm, unafraid, knowing that
what can so pass, is but fleeting and
incomplete.
THE Spiritual Life in realizing itseK Di
vine, knows itself to be as stable and
inclusive as the depths of the ocean, and
the passing of its loves and its interests,
its feelings and its aspirations, to be as
inconsequential to its vast underlying ex
istence as is the lapsing of even mountain
ous waves, individual though transient
fragments of themselves, into the bosom of
the seas ; and is as calm and serene in its
deeps as is the heart of the mighty waters
when the thunders of the skies crash above
them.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 9
The Spiritual Life, knowing itself Di
vine, realizes there can be no actual, per
manent separation from those whom it
loves, from any true service it may render,
from- any universal cause it may have
espoused ; they may at times seem to have
passed — ^but what was real in them en
dures.

10 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 4
The Spiritual Life is self-reliant in
excelsis: it realises that God helps
those who help themselves, because in
helping ourselves, in acting self-
reliantly, it is the Divine in us that is
operative,
WE are not automatons — ^were never in
tended to be; hence our natural im
pulse before obstacles on the path of our
object of pursuit, is to discover or invent
a means of surmounting them: the divine
creative principle in us awakes, and we
pass a trifle forward toward that under
standing and control of conditions and
things which is to eventuate in absolute
domination, by knowledge and will, of the
physical plane and then of higher planes.
God lures us toward Him by means of
objects attractive to us.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 11

APHORISM 5
The Spiritual Life is one of giving;
yet it accepts gladly the cordial prof-
ferings of others, but in the spirit of a
god receiving offerings — knowing it is
well that they should give, and determ
ining strongly that the giving shall re
dound with manifold blessings and
benefits upon the giver.

^

"C^OR long ages — on the Path of Pursuit
-¦- — ^we were engrossed in getting, and
evolved will, understanding, intellect, char
acter. It was right for us, this selfishness
— it was our dharma, our duty, our proper
activity for the stage we had reached. It
was, to be sure, unpleasant to our feUows
and especially to those ahead of us in evo
lution, but should have been no more so
to the latter than the boisterousness of
children to those of their elders who recog
nize that a child's play is its work, through
which it develops its muscles, its nervous

12 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
coordination, its alertness, its awareness,
its initiative, its character.
On the Path of Return (toward God,
whence we came) our dharma is giving,
and we cannot retain in selfish possession
aught that is given us ; it or its equivalent,
perhaps increased manifold, goes out from
us to the giver or others; we accept, that
the channels of beneficence may be kept
clear and the tendency to give be strength
ened.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 13

APHORISM 6
The Spiritual Life is one of grati
tude and respect toward all who try
to lift even a little the heavy burdens
of the world — and especially toward
those who guide the steps and inspire
the hearts that approach the entrance
to the Way, the Truth md the Life,

Si

THE Spiritual Life is a "knowing life,
with long ages of experience behind
it, of joys and sorrows and hardships and
honors and shames ; and no wonder that a
feeling of respect and gratitude wells up in
one in contemplating those who serve man
kind through betterment of conditions and
development of character !
Especially is respect owing to those who
are seeking to rationalize penalty for crime
through provision of carefully-graded in
struction and useful work, combined with
care of the physical nature ; and those who
are striving to make of the education of

14 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
the young a sacred task intended to elicit
their natural talents and imbue them with
moral wisdom, while storing their minds
with and arousing their interest by means
of useful knowledge.
We all are one; and we cannot but re
joice when the younger egos, or souls,
among us are aided to a deeper under
standing and more fruitful cycles of Uves.*

• See Vol. L

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 15

APHORISM 7

The Spiritual Life is the truly re
sponsible life: it realises it has been
"called apart" from the world and
that there is laid upon it the duty, the
necessity, of striving to perfect itself
in love and sympathy, knowledge and
insight, action and efficiency, for the
good of the world.

\»

JDESPONSIBILITY, from words mean-
-**¦ ing "I promise again," seems (for
language is very occult and mysterious) to
hark back to a promise in the past. Per
haps — ^who knows? — ^when we came out
from the ineffable Divine Light for our
long, long sojourn in these denser, darker
worlds, we were asked by our Father:
"Dost thou promise to return to Me when
the harvest is in and the labor is done?"
and we in our' enthusiasm replied: "I
promise." Then we, the Spirits, fared
forth, and in the course of vast ages

16 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
merged ourselves in the obscurity of up-
reaching animal souls, making them hu
man ; then, blinded by the darkness of our
prison-houses, we forgot the majesty of
our origin and the promise we had made.
For time that seemed interminable we went
farther afield in this great (though little)
world that is our own, and grew blinder
and blinder, prouder and prouder, tiU we
positively denied the existence of anything
significant outside of our puny selves.
Then there played upon us the conflicting
forces of the outer world and finally those
of our own inner world, and we joyed and
we suffered, swinging backward and for
ward, now into bliss, now into anguish.
Thus grew we strong and determined
within, and related ourselves sympathetic
ally with those without who had shared in
our experiences; and thereupon came we
in time to recognize uncritically, duties and
obligations — to those below us, those at our
level, and those above us. At last, in a
quiet moment after some stirring sequence
of experiences — ^in the calm that' followed
a storm — a light irradiated us from within
— a wondrous perception awoke — a voice

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 17
(was it a voice ? ) spoke, and it seemed to say :
"Dost thou recall thy promise?" "I do,"
we replied, "and I promise again to return
to Thee, O Father, and to take with me as
many as I can of my feUows." And we
have borne with us and shall forever do
so, the sense of our responsibiUty — ^we
have Hved the responsible life.

18 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 8
The Spiritual Life seeks ever to
draw to itself the personality, or lower
self, through which it expresses itself;
— it does this by increasing the person
ality's responsiveness through con
trolling und refining it and effacing
the egotism of it; and in this it is act
ing as does God toward itself.

jt

TDETWEEN the Higher Self, the Soul,
-¦-' and the personality, is a narrow way.
For a long time even the weU-developed
external self, busied with the "play of op-
posites," is not aware of the existence of
this way ; then it dimly senses it and begins
fo think of setting foot upon it, for the
reports of those who have done so are
stimulating even if they be not yet co-
ercively attractive. Then it ventures ; but
the body is heavy and does not respond
with enough of precision to the demands
of the exacting path. It recedes ; then tries

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 19
again, and falls back once more. The Self
seeks to illuminate the way and encourage
the traveler; the latter thereupon grows
serious exceedingly, casts off his useless
burdens of pleasure and of anxiety, forgets
himself, fares forth again, and stays on the
path, ever advancing, even though slowly.
And so is there a path between our
Higher Self and God-in-us, the Spark in
the Flame, the Monad; but, to reach it, is
to pass upon it and along it, with never a
recession.

20 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 9
The Spiritual Life is inconsistent
with bigotry, crystallisation of views,
opinionativeness; it strives to keep its
personality flexible, usable, permeable
— aw instrument to be bent readily into
effective inner attitudes and utilised
for the gathering of experience, one
capable of executing multifarious mis
sions of service efficiently.

^

TO the Spiritual Life "humani nihil a
me alienum puto." It seeks to be aU
things to all men — ^not through any viola
tion of its integrity, but through under
standing, sympathy, adaptabUity, and ver
satility, and in order that it may help each
according to his dharma, that is, his nature,
attainments and prospective development.
Hence it cannot harden into impermeabil
ity; it cannot impose dogmas; it cannot
demand adherence by all to even the same
rules of conduct, for it realizes that what

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 21
is right for one may be far from right for
another at a different stage of develop
ment — ^that whether certain moral precepts
are to be dynamic and effective, depends
upon the dharma of the person. And it
should be recognized that the Spiritual
Life may or may not be a religious life in
the ordinary meaning of the term : the
most spiritual of persons may never set
foot within a church or a temple, or even
think seriously of ecclesiastical matters:
religion is but one of the paths to the Spir
itual Life.

22 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 10
The Spiritual Life seeks ever, in
contact with other lives, to be utterly
sane and quietly helpful — a centre of
pleasing, healthful, and inspiring in
fluence,
THE possessor of the true spirituality
goes through his cycle of life doing
good and where possible leaving no trace
behind; though sometimes, in order that
needy ones may be drawn to him, he may
speak of his helping of others, or other
wise permit a certain degree of publicity,
such, for instance, as acceding to the dis
play of his portrait, in order that he may
become known and thus be better able to
serve in emergencies (especiaUy as an "in
visible helper" in the inner world when his
body is asleep) those who are in distress
and are seeking an expert to aid them.*

• See Vol, VI of this Series — ' ' The Occult Meaning
of Prayer."

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 23
He is utterly modest, dispassionate, and
practical; he is sophisticated; he is mag
netic; he seeks to be "as wise as a serpent
(spiritual sage), harmless as a dove," He
endeavors to know as much as possible of
aU things, in order to be of maximum ser
vice; he has in mind the idea conveyed
by a celebrated Englishman to his son:
"Know something of everything and
everything of something," and the "some
thing" of which he seeks to know every
thing that he can learn, is — God's plan for
the world.

24 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 11
The Spiritual Life is the source of
true happiness; and the measure of
our success in contacting that Life,
which is our real Self, is the degree of
bliss we experience: we are never hap
pier than when we "forget ourselves."

TRUE and enduring happiness is to be
found only in the condition that tran«
scends space and time as we know them
here — and we might perhaps add causal
ity; for space, time and causality are a
trinity of subtle limitations, whereas free
dom is essential to happiness that is true
and complete. In the Spiritual Life — ^in
the Self — ^we are above the personality, the
lower self, hence are free from these Hmi-
tations which are necessary to existence and
development on the physical plane and for
some distance above it.
In "forgetting ourselves" we are con
sciously more nearly one with all selves,

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 25
for we are nearer the Plane of Unity, which
is the Plane of Bliss, where all are seen to
be actually one — the brotherhood of man
and the fatherhood of God wondrous fun
damental facts.

26 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 12
The Spiritual Life, though one of de-
tachment amd, to the worldly eye, of
emptiness, is nevertheless obligated in
calculably and full to overflowing ; for
it is a channel between an inexhaust
ible supply and an eternal demand.

«9t

ONE is reminded of the saying of a
Chinese sage, to the effect that the
glory of the bowl' is its hoUowness. The
glory of a person is as his degree of re
ceptivity, his capacity; and to the worldly
eye even the nature most capable of re
sponding to the manifold appeals of the
world about it, as, for instance, the nature
of a poet or an occultist, may seem empty;
for the worldly eye is blind to aught but
the obvious, and the worldling has so little
imagination as not even to suspect that in
the depths of the soul of another who keeps
himself inconspicuous there may lie treas
ures inestimable. The greater the capacity

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 27
of the soul, the greater the constantly re
plenished store and incessant outflow of
benefits for others.
"Detachment" — from worldly things.
"Obligated" — Abound to every living be
ing in the Universe.
"Full" — ^for God's beneficence is the
source.

28 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 13
The Spiritual Life in itself is as a
lamp in a dark place: it does not give
itself — it just exists, it is there, it rays
out its influences, and the darkness
disappears: just to be spiritual is to
be potent,
THE Spiritual Life, like the Sun, showers
its benefits upon all; and as the life-
giving rays (the prSna) of the Sun, the
Heart of our System, are not lost in inter
stellar spaces, but pass out to the periphery
of the System — God's magnificent Aura, or
Body — and then turn back, even as the
blood returns to the heart ; so with the rays
from the Spiritual Self: they pass out to
the limits of their sphere, accomplish their
beneficence, and return to the Self. The
Self, though it constantly give, can never
deplete itself.
To be spiritual is to be able to reach the
source of life and development in others —
deep calling unto deep.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 29

APHORISM 14
The Spiritual Life is the only safe
refuge of the forlorn and the harried;
from there can they look out upon
things and with confidence cry, "Come
on, do your worst; you cannot affect
me, I am not of your sphere — I am in
the realm of the Eternal!"

JH

ARE they a refuge, real and indefeasible —
-^ even the "arms of the Lord"? Is any
shelter, any protective influence, external
to ourselves, a true and safe refuge? How
can they be, seeing that all that troubles
us, all that harries our lives, has sprung,
or springs, from ourselves? Can there be
any refuge from the karma we have made?
And can we be free from pain and sorrow
until, by the use of our own knowledge and
will, we have ceased from even the subtlest
wrong-doing ? The place of peace is the Self,
and the Self alone ; for, even were personal
bad karma exhausted, there would remain

30 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
within sight the suffering of others, and
how — except through the absolute convic
tion that all was well indeed with the suf
ferers, which can only be attained at the
plane of the Self — could peace be ours?*

* See Vol, I concerning Karma.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 31
APHORISM 15
The Spiritual Life realises the need
of strong discrimination, lest the very
virtues which distinguish it be utilised
to discredit it,
THE discrimination necessary to the ful
filment of the conditions of the Spir
itual Life, is that between the Real and the
Unreal; for the devotion to the Unreal of
even the highest of the virtues, while en
nobling the aspirant to a degree, at the same
time is either entangling him further in the
meshes of personality or binding him with
fettering ties, perhaps age-long, to others.
"He that neither loveth nor hateth ...
is dear to Me," saith the Lord in the Song
Celestial: a "hard saying" perhaps to
those who know not the mysteries of karma,
but replete with significance to those who
know. Love, the very source of virtues,
may be red, pink or white — selfish utterly,
selfish devotedly, selfless wholly. Only
white love can be "dear" — ^paramountly —
to the Lord. Hence, right discrimination
demands knowledge of the Real.

32 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 16
The Spiritual Life says: "I am here
to learn and serve, and the world shall
be the better for my having lived; I
am not perfect, hence how can I con
demn others? Were I perfect, I would
not: the greater another's failing, the
greater my proffers of light and up
lifting,"
TO truly learn is to unfold our poten
tialities; for merely storing the mind
with facts is little more significant than
placing inanimate objects in a museum —
weU classified and labeled, perhaps, but
inert, without fecundity.
To serve is to align oneself with God's
Plan for His system, and implies knowl
edge, latent or conscious, of the Great Plan,
and this knowledge is always dynamic: the
Plan compels.
The needs of others, deficiencies in the
social fabric, indeed shortcomings in ex
pression in any department of the Plan, are
as magnets to the Spiritual Life.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 33

APHORISM 17
The Spiritual Life looks up to God,
the Ruler of our Solar System; down
through mighty hierarchies to the hu
man; out upon this wondrous race;
then down to the crystal: it sees all in
God's Body, and His Life in all; and
knows that all is well,
HE who is even fairly weU developed
spiritually is at least dimly aware of
the fact that there is nothing dead in the
Universe, and that all things are manifes
tations of the Life of God, and play some
role more or less important in His vast
Body. The Divine System of Government is
beneficently autocratic; the heads of its
greater departments, appointed by the
Ruler, or taking their posts by virtue of
their stage of development under His Law,
in turn appoint the officials immediately
under them, and so on — all the appoint
ments being made, of course, because of

34 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
special fitness well earned. Love and rev
erence being indispensable quaUties in the
officials, none thinks of questioning a sug
gestion or an order from his superior. And
all officials throughout all the vast hier
archies so administer their spheres of ac
tivity as to gradually lead the lives in their
care upward toward themselves — the
mighty Whole, from elemental essence to
archangel and the Seven Powers before the
Throne, thus evolving by virtue of the su
preme centripetal energy on the life-side of
things — ^Love — originating in the Ruler of
All. Anjd all is very well.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 35

APHORISM 18
The Spiritual Life, in the midst of the
rags and tatters of the commonplace,
of passion and pain, of prayer and pen
itence, of joy and woe, of laughter and
tears, of evil, of sin, of despair, exists
unruffled, in calm majesty — original,
vast, immortal and free.
npHE Spiritual Life is a noumenal life —
-*• above space and time ; for, in excelsis,
it is on the Plane of Unity — of the Eternal
Now. And what to it can be the "acci
dents," the phenomena, of life? — how can
they disturb its serenity, any more than
the winds can disturb the sunshine through
which they blow?
The Spiritual Life is at— or, better, is —
the heart of aU things, eminently, solely
original. It is iUimitable : as says an ancient scrip
ture, "within it abide the sky and the world,
fire and air, the Sun and the Moon, the
Ughtning and the stars, aU that is."

36 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
It is deathless : death is but the breaking
of one form and the utUizing of another
already possessed — ^within the Self.
It is free : being, in essence, one with the
Self of the Universe, and aU things sub
sisting in it, what can trammel it?

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 37

APHORISM 19
The Spiritual Life, realising that
mere worldly ties must be severed be
fore attainment can be reached, seeks
to have the personality kill out desire;
hut, lest deadness supervene and prog
ress be checked, it does this by causing
it more and more devoutly to aspire.

T T should not for a moment be presumed
¦*- that all ties must be severed before the
immediate goal, Adeptship, can be reached;
it is but those having reference to desire
involving selfishness (desire for possession
— a low form of love ; desire for revenge —
hate). Desire leads us, like the Prodigal
Son, far from home ; but finally a longing
to return arises in us, and then we find
ourselves held back by the LiUiputian bonds
of affiliation with things we have outgrown,
or fettered by habits and tendencies which
a certain strange parasitic life — ^the desire
elemental — in our emotional body strives.

38 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
for the sake of its own very existence, to
keep alive and active in us. The killing out
of desire would produce inertness (for de
sire, or self-seeking activity, is our motive-
power up to a certain point in our develop
ment), were the matter to end in that, but
as a matter of fact another motive-power
takes its place — aspiration, a form of activ
ity in which selfishness is sublimed into
sacrifice.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 39

APHORISM 20
The Spiritual Life, knowing that
man becomes that on which he medi
tates, seeks ever to hold before the per
sonality it is using, such ideas as will
lead to the latter's transfiguration,
WE become that upon which we medi
tate, because we thus form mental
channels into which our energies tend to
flow; and thus can we, by the exercise of
will, make of ourselves — sometime — ^what
we desire to be. For long ages there are
held before us — ^the personalities — ^attrac
tive objects, that by seeking to grasp them
we may grow in intelligence, will and ac
tivity; finally, when desire has been trans
muted into aspiration, our Spiritual Selves
hold before us such ideals as will lead us
up to them with all that we have attained
under the propulsions of desire through
the foregoing ages.

40 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 21
The Spiritual Life, the Higher Self,
aware of the sacredness of other
Selves, never imposes itself upon them,
no matter how undeveloped they may
be, but seeks rather to shine so as to
attract them, guide them, and uplift
them.
EACH Self has its own Une of unfold-
ment, and to force it away from that
would be to confuse it and retard its prog
ress. We grow individuaUy, not collect
ively, except insofar as we grow through
interaction with others and all advance to
gether like the flowings and the eddyings
of a mighty stream ; for each is master of
his own destiny. And these lines of devel
opment, as multiform as the numbers of
awakened mankind, and resulting from the
sum-totals of past experiences of the indi
viduals, provide for the maintenance of the
world's activities, the doing of the world's
work, inner as well as outer.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 41
The Spiritual Life — as the Sun upon a
garden of many flowers — shines down, and
all of the millions of Selves are vitalized
and stimulated according to their several
natures and stages of unfoldment.

42 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHORISM 22
The Spiritual Life never feels dis
appointed, no matter what befalls;
even when, at the point of success after
years of labor, failure supervenes, it
is resigned, yet ready to try again, if
that be reasonable: to have succeeded
might have been injurious to itself or
others.
THE Spiritual Self, when it is so closely
in touch with the output fragment of
itself, the personaUty, consisting of the
physical, emotional and concrete-mental
natures, that this lower self perceives and
respects its intimations, beams upon it in
times of success and during periods of
struggle and defeat with equal radiance,
and sustains and fortifies it in both.* For
instance, it shows it the significance of the
experience: the gain, from the successful

*See Vol, V of this Series— "The Mystery of the
Self."

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 43
effort, in will-power, resourcefulness, ac
tivity, and self-confidence; and the gain,
from the failure, in the same qualities, with
the exception perhaps of the last, but with
the additional possible gain in patience,
sympathy for others who may seem to have
failed, steadfastness, reasonable resigna
tion, understanding, dispassion, self-con
trol and other such qualities. Worldly
failures are frequently spiritual successes.

44 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

APHOEISM 23
The Spiritual Life never classifies
others by worldly rank or position, by
wealth or appearance; self-satisfac
tion, superciliousness, and the spirit of
depreciation of others, are very for
eign to it: it seeks ever the good in
others.
THE Spiritual Life, seeking always the
Real, has but one criterion in judging
others; namely, "How much of God's Plan
do they know, how much of the Real have
they attained, and how can I properly help
them to a greater share in it?" It knows
that the brother in rags, dishonored by the
world and abandoned by his fellows, may
be far superior to one in the seats of the
mighty; it is not deceived by the fatuous
play of intellect, nor is it blinded by the
display of dazzling power. When it sees
in the heart the seeds of kindliness, and
in the actions a willing serviceableness,
and in the mind intelligence and aspiration.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 45
it knows that the Real has been perceived,
and that another brother is rising to MngU-
ness, if not already enthroned.
The ways of karma are mysterious in
deed, and woe to the proud who scorn the
lowly, for the lessons of humiUty and re
spect must frequently be taught by re
versal of conditions in subsequent lives,
and sometimes, where cruelty has been
practiced upon dependents or inferiors, in
dwarfed and crooked bodies or insane
minds.*

• See Vol, I,

46 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
APHORISM 24
The Spiritual Life does not take the
things of the world too seriously; it
knows that the carrying out of God's
Plan is in the strongest of strong
hands; it ever does its duty, laboring
unremittingly — but does it dispassion
ately.
HE who is imbued with his Spiritual
Self has his emotions so weU in hand,
is so endowed with discrimination, and has
acquired such a knowledge of the occult
side of Nature, that those world-affairs and
personal matters that seem to others to
portend disaster immitigable, are to him
but the readjustment of violated law, nec
essary to a higher equilibrium and a new
start upward. And why should he be
otherwise than calm and hopeful, having
glimpsed the glory, the power and the love
of God? But, even though he be sure of
the outcome of a critical period, he never
ceases working on his own special line of
high endeavor; for perhaps he is one of
God's agents for service at that very time.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 47
APHORISM 25
The Spiritual Life is an ordered life,
and impels its personality to do even
the smallest things well and fittingly;
it wastes no time; it uses its energies
with economy, striving for the greatest
good of the greatest number in the
shortest period.
THE Spiritual Life is exceedingly prac
tical. It is regulated to a degree. It
realizes that desirable qualities can be ac
quired or enhanced through the smallest
of matters, and it utilizes even the hum
blest of means for the development of its
ward, or child, the personality. To waste
time is to lose opportunity. To expend
energies aimlessly or prodigally, is to cur
tail possibilities. And while, sometimes, to
seek to help all is to succeed in helping
none, the aspirant endeavors to make his
efforts of the greatest general avail. He
has become a candidate for a place in the
ranks of those Great Ones — ^the Masters,
Rishis, Mahatmas, of various nationalities
— ^living in retirement. Who behind the veil

48 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
of tilings, by means of Their transcendent
powers, administer the more significant
affairs of Earth through sensitive individ
uals living in the midst of the world ; hence
he seeks constantly to refine and develop
his lower nature in all ways possible, and
stands ever ready and willing to be used
for the furtherance of God's Plan —
Waiting the word of the Master,
Watching the Hidden Light ;
Listening to catch His orders
In the very midst of the fight;
Seeing His slightest signal
Across the heads of the throng;
Hearing His faintest whisper
Above Earth's loudest song.*

* (From "At the Feet of the Master," by J, Krishna
murti,)

PART II
Epitome of "At the Feet of the Master"

This epitome is published with the special permission
of Mr. Krishnamurti,

Part II
EPITOME OF "AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER"
—The little book "At the Feet of the Master"
was written down by J, Krishnamurti, a Hindu
lad, of sixteen at the time, from oral instruc
tion by his master, a Great Adept, to prepare
him, and incidentally others, for one of ths
higher steps on the path of spiritual evolution,
which even the lowest of mankind are gradually
approaching and wiU sometime, after constantly
improving incarnations, attain. It has been
translated into many languages and has had a
world-wide distribution. Being one of the few
great non-sectarian spiritual texts, and emanat
ing from so high a source as a Master of the
Wisdom, it will pass on down the ages, as will
the name of the young scribe (familiarly known
as "Alcyone"), As a simple, utterly intelligible
and wholly reliable statement of the rules for
spiritual development, the little book has no
equal and should be in the hands of all aspirants
toward the higher life,
— For the benefit of such persons it has seemed
well to throw the teachings into a form readily
memorized, for so may they be made part of
themselves and serve as criteria ever present
51

52 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
by whieh to guide and test their conduct and
judge of right and wrong.

Pour qualifications there are for this pathway :
Discrimination
Desibelessness Good conduct
Love
DISCRIMINATION
1. Between those who know God's plan
(evolution), and work for it, and
those who do not, there being only
these two kinds of people in the
world, so far as real development is
concerned.
2, Between the Real and the Unreal.
3. Between the Right and the Wrong.
4. Between the Self and the Bodies it
uses.
5. Between Your wants and the Bodies'
wants.
6. Between the Important and the Unim
portant.
7. Between the Useful and the Useless.

"AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER" 63
8. Between the More Useful and the Less
Useful.
9. Between the True and the False.
10. Between the Selfish and the Unselfish,

^

a. Do right, not counting the cost,
b. Live according to Nature's laws, using
reason and common sense.
c. Be gentle, kindly, reasonable, accommo
dating, tolerant.
d. If you know, help others to know.
e. Study first what will most help you to
help others.
f. Be true all through — in thought, word
and deed.
g. Think for yourself, lest superstition en
slave you.
h. Do not think of others what you do not
know.
i. Ask: "What would the Master say or
do under these conditions?"
j. Be accurate and do not exaggerate.
k. Never attribute motives to another.
1, Do not repeat a story heard against any
one.

54 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
m. Think before speaking, fearing inaccur
acy.
n. Never pretend to be other than you are.
0. Think so fully of helping others that
there will be no room for selfish
thought,
p. Learn to distinguish the God in every
one and everything.
q. Learn how to appeal to the Divine Life
in the erring, for thus may you save
them from wrong.
DESIRELESSNESS
1. It being our object to forget self, we
should not forsake the pursuit of
earthly aims only in order to gain
Heaven or to attain personal libera
tion from rebirth,
2. All selfish desire binds, however high
may be its object,
3. Desire not to see the results of good
action,
4. Desire not gratitude or reward; do
right for the sake of the right,
5. Desire not psychic powers; they are
likely to lead to deception from the

" AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER " 55
psychic plane, to conceit and the
feeling of infallibility ; and the time
and strength needed to gain them
might be spent in work for others.
6. Never wish to shine, or to appear
clever.
7. Have no desire to speak. It is better
to say nothing, unless quite sure
that what you wish to say is true,
kind and helpful,
8. Think carefully before speaking, lest
you tell what should not be told.
9, Listen rather than talk; do not offer
opinions unless directly asked for
them.
10, Know, dare, will, be silent.
11. Repress desire to meddle. Mind your
own business strictly. Each has full
right to free thought, speech and ac
tion, so long as he does not interfere
with others,
12. In a case of cruelty to a child or an
animal, it is your duty to interfere.
If you see anyone breaking the law
of the country, you should inform
the authorities. If placed as teacher
in charge of another, it may be your

56 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
duty to gently tell him of his faults.
Except in such cases, mind your own
business, and learn the virtue of
silence. GOOD CONDUCT
1. Self -Control as to the Mind:
a. Control of the temper, so that you
may feel no anger or impatience.
b. Control of the mind itself, so that
the thought may always be calm
and unruffled.
c. Control of the nerves, so that they
may be as little irritable as pos
sible.
d. The cahn mind means also courage
and steadiness. It does not mat
ter in the least what happens to
you from the outside; sorrows,
troubles, sicknesses, losses must
be as nothing to you, and must
not be allowed to affect the calm
ness of your mind. Bear them
cheerfully; all evil is transitory;
your duty is to remain joyous
and serene. Think of what you
are doing now, which will make

" AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER " 57
the events of your next life, for
that you can alter.
e. Feel no sadness or depression over
anything; it infects others and
makes their lives harder.
f. Whatever you are doing, fix your
thought upon it, that it may be
perfectly done.
g. Do not let your mind be idle, but
keep good thoughts always in the
background of it, ready to come
forward the moment it is free.
h. Use your thought-power daily for
good ; be a force in the direction
of evolution. Think each day of
someone whom you know to be
in sorrow or suffering, or in need
of help, and pour out loving
thought upon him.
i. Hold back your mind from pride.
Pride comes from ignorance. AU
good work is done by God alone.
2. Sdf-Control in Action:
a. To be useful, thought must result
in action.
b. Do your own duty, not another's,

38 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
unless with his permission and
to help him.
e. Leave every man to do his own
work in his own way ; be always
ready to offer help when it is
needed, but never interfere.
d. Do not neglect ordinary duties for
higher work you try to take up,
for until they are done, you are
not free.
e. Undertake, aspirant, no new worldly
duties, but perfectly fulfil those
already in hand — all clear and rea
sonable duties which you yourself
recognize, that is, not imaginary
duties which others try to impose
upon you.
3. Tolerance: a. Feel perfect tolerance for all, and a
hearty interest in the beUefs of
those of another religion, just as
much as in your own. For their
religion is a path to the highest,
just as yours is. And to help all,
you must understand all.
b. To gain this perfect tolerance, you

"AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER" 59
must first be free from bigotry
and superstition ; must learn that
no ceremonies are necessary;
must not condemn others who
still cling to ceremonies.
c. Make allowance for everything; be
kindly toward everything; look
kindly, gently, tolerantly upon
all, but upon all alike — Buddhist
or Hindu, Jain or Jew, Christian
or Muhammadan.
4. Cheerfulness: a. Bear your karma cheerfully, con
sidering it an honor that suffer
ing comes to you — it shows that
the Lords of Karma think you
worth helping. Remember that
you are of little use to the Mas
ter until your evil karma is
worked out, and you are free.
b. Give up all feeling of possession.
Be ready to part with anything
and everything cheerfully.
e. Often the Master needs to pour out
His strength upon others through
His servant. He cannot do that

60 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
if the servant yields to depres
sion.
5. One-Pointedness: a. The one thing you must set before
you is to do the Master's work.
AU helpful, "unselfish work is the
Master's work.
b. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily,
as to the Lord, and not unto
men." Do all your work as if it
were to be observed by the
Master.
e. No temptations, no worldly pleas
ures, no worldly affections even,
must ever draw you aside from
the Path upon which you have
entered. You must become one
with the Path ; it must be so much
part of your nature that you f ol-
• low it without needing to think
of it.
6. Confidence: a. Trust your Master. If you have
not yet seen Him, you must try
to realize Him and trust Him.

" AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER " 61
Unless there is perfect trust,
there cannot be the perfect flow
of love and power.
b. Trust yourself. You are a spark
of God's own fire, and God who
is almighty, is in you, and be
cause of that there is nothing
that you cannot do if you will.
Say to yourself: "What man
has done, man can do, I am a
man, yet also God in man ; I can
do this thing, and I will."
c. Your will must be like tempered
isteel, if you would tread the
Path. LOVE
1. The most important qualification this;
all the rest, without it, would not be
sufficient.
2. It is will, resolve, determination to be
one with God, not in order to escape
from the round of births and deaths,
but in order that because of your
deep love for Him, you may act with
Him and as He does.
3, Do not hurt any Uving thing.

62 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
4. Three sins against Love do more harm
than all else in the world; namely,
gossip, cruelty and superstition.
1. Gossip:
a. If you think of the evil in another,
you are doing at the same time
three wicked things :
You are filling your neighborhood
with evil thought, and so are
adding to the sorrow of the
world.
If there is in that man the evil
which you think, you are
strengthening it and making your
brother worse. But generaUy
you have only fancied the evil;
and then your wicked thought
tempts him to do wrong — ^you
may make him what you have
thought him.
You fill your own mind with
evil thoughts, and hinder your
growth.
b. Never speak ill of anyone.
c. Refuse to listen when anyone else
speaks ill of another, but gently

"AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER" 63
say: "Perhaps this is not true,
and even if it is, it is Mnder not
to speak of it."
2. Cruelty:
a. This is of two kinds — ^intentional
and unintentional.
b. Intentional cruelty is the greatest
of all sins.
c. Brutality is not excused by saying
it is the custom. Karma takes
no account of custom.
d. The karma of cruelty is the most
terrible of all.
e. The fate of the cruel must fall also
upon those who kUl for "sport."
f. There is cruelty in speech as well
as in act, and he who thus in
tentionally wounds another is
guilty of this crime.
g. Sometimes a careless word does as
much harm as a malicious one;
hence be on your guard against
unintentional cruelty,
h. Much suffering is caused by forget
ting to think how an action wiU
affect others.

64 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
i. Karma never forgets, and it takes
no account of the fact that men
forget.
j. If you wish to enter the Path, you
must think of the consequences
of what you do, lest you be guUty
of thoughtless cruelty.
3. Superstition:
a. This is another mighty evil, and has
caused much terrible cruelty.
b. The man who is a slave to it de
spises others who are wiser, tries
to force them to do as he does.
c. Think of the awful slaughter due
to the superstition that animals
should be sacrificed and to the
still more cruel superstition that
man needs flesh for food.
d. Superstition can breed heartless
cruelty even among those who
know the duty of brotherhood.
e. Many crimes have men committed
in the name of the God of Love,
moved by this nightmare of su
perstition.
f. Be very careful, therefore, that no

"AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER" 65
slightest trace of it remains in
you.
a. You must not only refrain from evil;
you must be active in doing good. Be
ever on the watch to render service to
aU around you ; not to man alone, but
even to animals and plants.
b. Yearn to be one with God, not for your
own sake, but that you may be a
channel through which His love may
flow to your fellowmen.
c. He who is on the Path exists not for
himself, but for others; he has for
gotten himself, in order that he may
serve them.
d. The wisdom which enables you to help,
the will which directs the wisdom, the
love which inspires the wUl — ^these
are your qualifications.
e, WiU, Wisdom and Love are the three
aspects of the Logos; and you, who
wish to enroll yourselves to serve
Him, must show forth these aspects
in the world.

PART III
The Path of Spiritual Development

Part III
the path of spiritual development
1. Ordinary Gentlehood.
2. Growing Knowledge op Reality:
a. Struggle against —
Ignorance, Sluggishness,
Spiritual darkness;
Resulting in —
Mental strength.
Power of will.
Ordinary self-control.
An open mind.
b. Substitution of duty for self -gratifi
cation,
c. Purification of the body by —
Temperate self-control ;
Pure food, that is, food without
meat and its products ;
Moderate exercise ;
Pure surroundings.
d. Purification of the emotions by
69

70 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
disciplining the desires and re
straining those emotions or pas
sions involving thoughts injuri
ous to others.
e. Purification of the intellect by elim
inating from one's reading triv
ial, distracting matter, and giv
ing the attention to matter of
universal significance.
3. Devotion to Right Without Sblp-
Interest :
a. Indifference to worldly, inconse
quential things.
b. Indifference to personal reward.
c. Longing to be of service to aU crea
tures.
4, Control of Mind :
a. Regulation of thought.
b. Understanding of the effect of un-
spoken thought upon the minds
of others.
c. Elimination of impure thoughts of
any sort.
d. Practice of meditation, or training
of the mind in concentration of

PATH OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT 71
thought, at stated times daUy;
the meditation to be devotional
and intellectual, the latter dweU-
ing upon the several virtues in
turn and all that is admirable
from an intellectual point of
view, the former upon some great
religious teacher,
5. Regulation of Conduct:
a. Conquest of the subtler temptations
and of the feeling of self-interest,
6. Tolerance: a. Patience.
b. Understanding of the different
stages of development of man
kind,
c. Compassion for the erring.
d. Recognition of the truth beneath
appearances.
7. Forbearance: a. Absence of resentment.
b. Cidtivation of compassion and for
giveness.

72 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
8. Enlightened Faith :
a. Humble yet strong confidence in
one's ability to attain perfection.
9. Unswerving Steadiness:
a. Balance,
b. Composure.
c. Peace of mind.
10, Longing fob Freedom :
a. Desire for spiritual existence.
b. Desire for union with the highest
ideals of love, wisdom, and
power for service of the world.
c. Constant longing for Light, con
stant desire for instruction from
One who knows, in order that one
may better serve the world.
d. Constant examination of one's life,
particularly in a review of the
day, when about to retire at
night, with the intention of free
ing oneself from errors and
faults.

PART IV
The Plastic Age

Part IV
THE plastic age
The Perils and Possibilities of Early
Adolescence: Social Hygiene for
Boys and Girls Between
Twelve and Sixteen
Intelligent parents and teachers welcome
aught that illuminates the mysteries of
childhood and points a way to the disci
pline and cultivation of the souls entrusted
to their care.
For these people of sound minds and
loving hearts this article has been written.
May it inspire them to study their little
ones, and with the firm steps of knowledge
and control-of-self lead them into the paths
of light and upliftment,
SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Social Hygiene, the author believes, may
be defined most accurately and properly,
instead of as usual, as that branch of
science which deals with those influences
75

76 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
pertaining to a human environment, that
make for the preservation and improve
ment of health, physical, mental, moral or
spiritual, of individuals or communities.
These influences are most potent upon
the tender natures developing from child
hood into adolescence, that strange nebu
losity of mind and heart which in a few
years is to be globed up into an effective
personality. That we may understand the period in
question, ere laying down rules for its guid
ance, let us consider these little new
comers into life.
The advent of a chUd into this world — a
marvelous thing in itself — ^may be likened
to coming from darkness into the glare of
day, with its confusion of vision, its lack
of perspective, its non-appreciation of de
tail. The growth of his consciousness, his
awareness of his surroundings, is like be
coming used to the light.
His business now is to begin to adapt
himself to his environment. Little by Uttle
with many mistakes, he proceeds to do this.
Friends and strangers, his home influences
and those outside, begin to press upon him.

THE PLASTIC AGE 77
to mold his character into conformity with
the general character of the community.
All seem foes to individual expression on
his part. All seem to conspire to destroy
those qualities inherent in him which make
him what he is as distinct from other new
comers into this world. The tendency is,
to shape him up into the average type of
his environment, and this usually means
suppression of some of his native energies.
At home and at school he is subject to
rule and regulation; with his fellows he
conforms to an unwritten code of ethics,
yet is freer and gives vent to more of his
individuality. He thus alternates between
a free and an impeded flow of self. The
result is, that in spite of the exuberance
of play, with its lavish expenditure of
forces, there is nevertheless in him by the
time he has reached the age of twelve, a con
siderable amount of blind impulse toward
self-expression which has been curbed by
circumstances and has become like a slum
bering volcano.
A precarious period this in the Ufe of the
child — a period of uncertainty. The indi
vidual is not yet firmly planted in the soU

78 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
of the world. In a way, he has taken root ;
but just how he is to grow, just the tenden
cies he is to manifest most conspicuously,
are not yet obvious. It is a time for great
concern, for now is the character to be
definitely shaped, now are the foundations
of physical , and mental health to be laid
most soundly. And a wrong environment,
unwise parents, unfit companions may
buUd in him channels for his energies
which, when the time is ripe, will lead them
far from their natural directions.
The suggestibility of the new-comer is
such, and the impressions that are made in
his mind are so nearly indelible now, that
this may be considered the most important
period of the formative years of his Ufe.
The mental records, and the ideas and fan
cies that flow from them, begin to surround
him with a mental atmosphere that will
color, to some extent at least, the remain
der of his days.

THE PLASTIC AGE 79

THE FUNDAMENTAL CULTIVATION OF THE
CHILD NATURE
For the sake of a rounded regimen I sug
gest below a practical course of develop
ment which may be begun with the dawning
intelligence and extended to the age of six
teen or thereafter, and which will have pro
vided a firm foundation for the hygiene pe
culiar to the period we are considering
especially :
1. Far more important than merely fill
ing the mind of the child with scraps of
learning, are the shaping of his disposition
along the lines of unselfishness and self-
control, and the cultivation in him of the
power of acquiring knowledge accurately.
2, True education lies in developing the
natural faculties of children and in spirit
ualizing their hearts — the inner meaning of
"spiritualizing" being the inculcation of
the belief that One Life animates all, and
that if we harm any living creature we are
causing disharmony and shall inevitably
suffer, ourselves, in some way, besides in
terfering with the orderly progress of the
world.

80 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
3. There are several ways of thus edu
cating our little ones. The following are of
a fundamental nature and always available
wherever we happen to be with children :
(a) Train them to repeat in their own
words what has been read to them, also
to repeat the words of the reader.
That is, cultivate the ear-memory,
(b) Have them describe places they
have visited or events they have wit
nessed, even arranging for them artifi
cial "events," the idea being to get ac
curate descriptions free from emotional
coloring, and to develop discrimination.
Have them look at a picture, turn the
eyes away, visualize it and tell what they
have gathered from the mental image.
Have them carefully regard a number
of articles on a table, turn away and tell
what they have seen.
Have them look at some simple object,
such as a plain scroll, then turn away
and attempt to draw it on paper.
That is, cultivate the eye-memory.
(c) Have them read some slightly ab-

THE PLASTIC AGE 81
straet ideas, then give the gist of the
matter in their own words.
Train them to withdraw into their own
minds, through mental arithmetic, when
they are able to do such work.
Have them try to keep all thoughts out
of their minds for as long a time as pos
sible. Then have them concentrate upon some
thought or thing as long as possible
without straining their brains.
That is, cultivate thought-power.
(d) From the first, carefully and con
scientiously teach them the names of
things. Explain to them such natural phenom
ena as they are able to understand.
Turn their attention to the reading of
objective books, such as works of travel
and of natural histor3'^ simply written,
lives of great personages, and histories
written for children.
That is, provide them with materials
for thought,
(e) Have them undertake work of
some sort that involves the buUding up

82 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
of something objective, such as a linear
design, the purposeful grouping of solid
objects, or the making of images in some
plastic material. Encourage originality
in this, and be careful to keep their fancy
within bounds fairly conformable to rea
sonableness and truth.
That is, develop the imagination.
These practices, simple and capable of
being made of great interest to children,
develop self-control, memory, discrimina
tion, alertness, and concentration; supply
their minds with food for thought and use
ful knowledge ; enable them to do inventive
and constructive work; and finally tend to
convince them that they who thus equip and
control the mind are superior to it and
should look upon it as an instrument which
must be improved to the utmost.
(f) At the same time, we should of
course take pains to develop in them the
feeling of protection over animals and
other subhuman creatures, regard for
their fellows, helpfulness, obedience to
their parents and superiors, and rever
ence for the Father of All.

THE PLASTIC AGE 83
That is, illuminate their souls.
This is all a gracious work and is
strongly recommended to those who are in
charge of children of any age. It nicely
supplements school-work, and might be in
troduced among groups of children gath
ered together for that purpose. Their
friendly emulation may be so stirred that
they will voluntarily practice by them
selves in order to improve at each succeed
ing meeting.
In these ways is the inner self cultivated
rapidly, and as described they constitute a
part of Social Hygiene.
THE HYGIENE OF EARLY ADOLESCENCE
Some Basic Ideas. We should remember
that, perhaps, behind the little form placed
in our care there is seeking to express itself
a soul that is older and more developed
than we, and that we owe it the service of a
proper environment and training.
Evil qualities, in child or adult, mean
lack of experience and growth in the Self
of the opposite qualities; in eases where

84 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
thievery is shown, the soul has not acquired
the quality of honesty. Where it acquires
the qualities it brings with it, whether from
heredity, training or environment, or all
together, or from past lives it has lived on
Earth, need not concern us in this essay,
though it may be mentioned that the pre
ponderance of reason is on the side of re
birth and the non-transmittal of traits of
character from parents to child. Suffice it
to say that the soul comes with qualities in
a germinal state, and whether it is to de
velop evil or good tendencies depends al
most entirely upon the influences brought
to bear on it from outside. If these influ
ences do not elicit the evil, the seeds of evil
wUl die; and if the person do seemingly
evil things, it will be because his real self,
his soul, has not yet had built into it the
corresponding good. Keep him happy, har
monious and busied with character-devel
oping play and work during the plastic
period, and the germs of evil will lose their
vitality and be supplanted by seeds of
good. One of the greatest breeders of evil in a
child is fear. Our children trust them-

THE PLASTIC AGE 85
selves to us, and in seeking to control them
by fear, we are wounding them deeply.
Fear springs from hate and casts out love
— a very serious matter. By keeping away
from them anger or other harshness — any
thing that might produce nervousness or
fear, we develop in them affection, courage
and devotion.
Irritability in parents or teachers
arouses peevishness, anger and disrespect
in the child. It has been well said: "Our
children are what we are. They are good
when we are good; bad when we are bad."
Hence cultivation of the soul of the child
requires self -discipline and eternal watch
fulness on the part of the parent, and pa
renthood thus becomes a beautiful school
for self-development in many of the high
est of qualities.
Children, especially boys, live among us
as aUens, with ideas of life of their own.
They regard adults (in the mass) with al
most open hostility. We are incomprehen
sible to them, and are perpetually interfer
ing with their right to enjoy themselves in
their own way. And many an adult thinks
of children as only noisy, dirty, clumsy,

86 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
greedy and generaUy objectionable. In a
rational Social Hygiene this chasm should
be bridged. Adults should endeavor to put
themselves in the place of the child and
reaUze his conception of things as nearly
as possible. This will promote understand
ing. It may be done by indulging in rem
iniscence of one's childhood days.
Unwise parents and teachers often err in
exacting obedience habitually, without un
derstanding on the part of the child. They
expect from the boy or girl always, under
all conditions, an angelic patience which
they themselves are far from possessing.
What better method to fill a child with
deceit and falsehood than to place him
among people who misunderstand, scold or
otherwise ill-treat him for offenses whose
weight he does not comprehend?
There is but one way to obtain a really
effective infiuence over a chUd and draw
out aU that is best in him ; that is by win
ning his love and confidence. If his affec
tion has been evoked, his will at once
ranges itself on the side of the rules laid
down for him; he wishes to keep them be
cause he knows that in breaking them he

THE PLASTIC AGE 87
would cause sorrow in one whom he loves ;
and if this feeling be deep enough, it will
assist him to rise above all temptation, eyen
in the absence of the loved one.
Correction of Physical Defects. — The
period dealt with being in the midst of
school-life, the child is easy of access to
skilled guardians of the pubUc health and
morals, and should be periodically observed
with the intention of correcting defects of
a physical, mental or moral character that
are obvious in him.
If a child be seen to be indolent, some
physical cause must be looked for, as lazi
ness in children is abnormal. There wUl
usually be found something which is di
minishing the nourishment received by the
brain, impairing the circulation and assail
ing the nervous system. A frequent cause
is adenoids or abnormal tissue growths in
the cavity back of the nose, which make it
hard for the child to breathe, so that his
vitaUty is depleted and he is quickly fa
tigued by mental or muscular effort, and
becomes an idler. Tooth-decay and swal
lowing of the poisons therefrom, eye-

88 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
trouble, defective ears — any bodUy short
coming that imposes an excessive strain on
the nervous system — tend to produce lazi
ness. The child should not be blamed; he
should be freed from these limitations.
Cases of even exaggerated so-caUed "in
nate depravity" often yield at once to
physical treatment.
Where laziness is found for which no
physical basis is discovered, there is no
greater curative agent than the dynamic
influence of something that especially in
terests the child ; find his bent, and set him
free in his proper field, and an inner impul
sion will often goad him into intense ap
plication.*

* To find a child's tendencies, the services of a com
petent astrologer might well be procured. An accurate
horoscope would indicate the child's line of development,
and much time, expense and wasted effort would be saved
in his education and training, for he could be early
started on his natural career with his own will at the
helm. If possible, the findings of the astrologer should
be tested for a, while by the parents, to ascertain if they
be correct; for unless the data concerning the birth be
accurate, the horoscope will be at fault. The very minute
of a child's birth should be recorded oficially and by
parents, for just this purpose. Astrology in this way can
perform its most valuable function, and it is now being
studied and practiced throughout the world by men and
women whose honor and attainments are of the highest.

THE PLASTIC AGE 89
If the child be exceptionaUy diffident, it
is well to search into his dawning sexual
life, for some irregularity may there be
discovered. His self-confidence should be
built up by encouragement and firm direc
tion. It should always be remembered that a
life should be lived under conditions of
sanitation and a proper personal hygiene,
for whatever affects the health of the indi
vidual influences his relations with the
world and impairs or increases the effects
of Social Hygiene upon him.
Suggestion, This is generally more pow
erful than direct teaching, as it penetrates
more deeply into the inner self. It may be
applied through the medium of well-chosen
stories, anecdotes, fables and myths. In
deed, the whole education of the chUd is
best subserved by placing him in such an
environment, both animate and inanimate,
as will most powerfully direct upon his
plastic nature conceptions of the higher
things of life — through suggestion.
Happy Surroundings. Above aU things,
perhaps, should happiness prevaU in the

90 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
child's life. It should be considered his
right. By happiness is not meant license
or the pleasures that flow from disobe
dience, but that condition in which har
mony exists between himself and his nor
mal and proper environment, natural and
human. It is one of the chief elements of
the Social Hygiene applicable to him at
this period, as weU as before and for some
time after. Happiness is due to the free
flow of the individual's energies outward.
It is a condition of expansion of conscious
ness and feeling. Its source is love, which
is one of the fundamental attributes of the
Self manifesting through the growing
body. Consequently, happiness may be
considered indispensable to the child's
physical, mental and emotional develop
ment on right lines. An environment of
discord, harshness, undue restraint, causes
poisons to form in the system and iU-
health to follow, tends to thwart the efforts
of the inner Self and to stunt the growth of
the child in the three departments of his na
ture mentioned. Happiness is like a sun
shining upon the better seeds of character
and causing them to develop into flower

THE PLASTIC AGE 91
and fruit, and at the same time preventing
the development of unworthy seeds, just
as the physical Sun prevents or hinders
the growth of fungi and certain other low
forms of vegetation. The child's surround
ings should be bright and colorful, and his
outer dress well conceived and cheerful in
appearance. Play. The child's play is the chUd's
business, and should be supervised with
loving care. Through his play he is de
veloping his faculties, and by a study of his
methods much light wiU be cast upon his
character; tendencies will be shown that
will aid the discriminating parent in plan
ning his future. He should of course be
taught to manifest in his play courtesy and
high-mindedness, absolute fairness and
consideration for his fellows.
Work. In addition to the business which
his play and school-studies are, it is well
that a boy spend at least an hour a day
upon something of a manual nature such as
the making of beautiful and useful articles
out of wood by hand-carving, turning-
lathe or jig-saw; learning carpentry, gar-

92 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
dening, care of domestic animals ; devising
apparatus for experiments in natural phi
losophy; doing certain necessary work
about his home, or, if it be necessary to
earn money, engaging in some Ught busi
ness ; and that a girl learn the various de
tails of housework, including cooking, sew
ing and the making of her own dresses,
caring for children and the sick, if oppor
tunity be present, and the use of simple
household remedies — anything to keep
hand, eye and body usefully busy for train
ing, pleasure, profit or service to others.
Conduct Toward Others. The child's de
portment in respect to his equals, his in
feriors (who may be considered to be
yoimger children, animals, insects and
plants) and his superiors (who may be con
sidered his elders even among children)
should be carefully observed, and any ar
rogance, wantonness, superciliousness, or
lack of obedience and deference where due,
should be taken as clues to his needs in
the way of advice and correction.
He should early be taught etiquette and
politeness in general, for thus is social in-

THE PLASTIC AGE 93
tercourse filled with charm, and obstacles
to health, such as resentment, fear and dis
like, obviated. He should be filled with the
spirit of kindly, sympathetic service.
The Sexes. The relations between the
sexes at this period should be carefully
considered. Each naturally begins to re
gard with a sort of wonder the other.
There is a drawing together which may
bring out on the part of the boy the high
qualities of chivalry, unselfishness and
manliness, and on the part of the girl those
of gentleness, admiring affection and wom
anly solicitude — this the normal condition
of healthy-minded and healthy-hearted
children; and boys and girls should have
access to each other's company under
proper supervision.
There may, however, be such a perver
sion of the sex-instinct as to lead to gross
abuses on the part of both the boy and the
girl. These tendencies, taken in the be
ginning, can with great care be eradicated.
One of the most practical methods of ac
complishing this (and of correcting any
bad habit whatsoever) is the giving of sym-

94 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
pathetic advice and admonition while the
child is in that glimmering period of con
sciousness between the waking and the
sleeping state, the mother or someone else
sitting beside him, holding one of his hands
and speaking to him calmly, lovingly and
in a low and somewhat monotonous voice.
If these tendencies toward perversion be
not eradicated at this stage of life, the en
tire career of either the boy or the girl may
be obscured by ill-health, deficient mental
ity or public ostracism. Let parents be
ware, and let them not comfort themselves
with the thought : ' ' Oh, my child would not
do such things ! " No false modesty should
be permitted to stand in the way of ex
plaining to children the sex-function in lan
guage suited to their years. And it should
be remembered that it is the highly organ
ized children, those with imagination and
ideality well developed, who are most likely
to need help in these matters.
World-Patriotism. Let children at this
formative period of their lives be taught
that the World is our fatherland, that all
people are our brothers. Let teachers in-

THE PLASTIC AGE 95
still into their minds a reverence for the
flag of their country, and the natural pa
triotism that springs from the sense of the
nation's fostering care, the patriotism that
keeps the nation on the line of its particular
growth; but let them beware lest, by the
undue rousing of national pride, they incul
cate the spirit of criticism, of prejudice, of
separateness, and annul thus the forces
working for peace and harmony. Let them
rather strive, as they so successfully can
— by caUing attention to the fact that na
tions develop along different lines and that
each has its own place in the family of na
tions — ^to breed in the minds before them a
spirit of tolerance and brotherhood, and
make of them world-citizens, world-patri
ots, conscious workers for the good of all.
Such teaching as this, taken in connec
tion with memorization of the following
"Golden Chain Promise," and its repeti
tion morning and evening, will supplement
religious training or take its place where
it is not to be had, it being remembered
that children are hardly capable of much
religious feeling or understanding.

96 THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
"Golden Chain Promise
"I am a Link in the Golden Chain of
Love that stretches round the world,
and must keep my Link bright and
strong. " So I will try to be kind and gentle
to every living thing I meet and to pro
tect and help all who are weaker than
myself. "And I will try to think pure and
beautiful thoughts, to speak pure and
beautiful words and to do pure and
beautiful actions.
"May every Link in the Golden
Chain become bright and strong!"
Conclusion. The children of today, we
should bear in mind, are to be the men
and the women, the students, disciples and
teachers, and the doers of the world's work
of the years to come. And all that we can
do to lengthen their Uves, increase their

THE PLASTIC AGE 97
effectiveness, promote their higher develop
ment, align them with the Cause that makes
for righteousness, is so much done for the
Father of us all, the Ruler of our Solar
System, in His administration and evolu
tion of this His world.
Thus does Social Hygiene play its
mighty part in the Divine Plan.
Peace to all beings.

i UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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